Grow Early Education Bushland Beach: Former staffer speaks out about Townsville childcare centre

Insiders have spoken out about a Townsville childcare centre, criticising the handling of a ‘new generation’ of aggressive children, but the centre denies there is a problem.

Grow Early Education Bushland Beach

Insiders have spoken out about a Townsville childcare centre, criticising the handling of a ‘new generation’ of aggressive children, but the centre denies there is a problem.

A former worker at Grow Early Education Bushland Beach, Tilly (not her real name), spoke directly to theTownsville Bulletinafter a story was published in the newspaper about the centre.

Tilly said there was a poor work environment at the centre.

She also said staff were dealing with increasing behavioural issues in the older childrens’ rooms.

“I personally think since COVID we’ve been seeing quite aggressive kids coming through. It is actually crazy,” she said.

Pictures from inside the Bushland Beach Grow Early Education childcare centre.

“But the amount of support we were getting... was really lacking. We had a lot of behavioural matters we were dealing with in the older kids rooms and needed help.”

Tilly said the staff needed more help to deal with the problems.

She alleged on one occasion a worker visiting the Bushland Beach centre would “start verbally abusing the girls and making them feel worthless”.

“That was when girls started leaving,” she said.

Tilly also alleges when an incident happened with a child and the parent asked about it, the company representation denied the incident happened.

Pictures from inside the Bushland Beach Grow Early Education childcare centre.

She also alleges on at least one occasion there was a screaming match between two employees, and information would not be passed on to Imagine Education Australia head office.

When asked directly about the issue, Imagine Education Australia CEO Bill Alder described the more senior employee involved in the allegations as “one of our best people”.

“(They are) a dedicated professional who is passionate about early education. They stepped in to assist with practices... It seems the information you have has come from former staff who it now seems they are disgruntled,” Mr Alder said.

“In our organisation we are focused on the wellbeing of children and families. Sometimes this focus requires staff to re-evaluate their professional practices. This can be a difficult process for some.”

Pictures from inside the Bushland Beach Grow Early Education childcare centre.

Criticism started snowballing against Grow Early Education Bushland Beach in February when parents anonymously expressed their concerns on a local Facebook group about multiple staff resignations and unaddressed physical ‘altercations’ between toddlers.

Since then Mr Alder has been making frequent trips to the Bushland Beach centre, and said there was a new leadership team in place.

Mr Alder is not the individual who was alleged to have verbally abused staff.

“I am confident they are providing the best care and education,” Mr Alder said of the staff at the centre.

“We have been managing a variety of educational institutions including childcare centres for over 20 years as Imagine Education.”

Imagine Education Australia CEO Bill Alder

The Townsville Bulletin also spoke to a former parent who attended Grow Early Education Bushland Beach in 2024.

Nancy (not her real name) said she started her five months old baby at the centre and had a bad experience.

“The first day according to the handbook I was supposed to have baskets labelled et cetera and be introduced to the educators. None of that happened,” Nancy said.

“Upon arriving there were two educators and a few babies in the room. The educators were talking amongst themselves and all the babies were crying.”

Nancy said she returned early to pick her child up but couldn’t see her.

Ultimately, she found her five month old crying inside a cubby, face down and “sobbing hysterically and gasping”.

Nancy said no educators were in the room.

“I went back the next day and expressed my concerns. The worker mentioned (my baby) didn’t take any of her bottle yesterday, so she’d gone the whole day without any food.”

Nancy said she continued to send her baby to the childcare centre for a short time before leaving.

“Each day was the same, she was distraught and upset … they never called me for updates despite me requesting this,” she said.

“Not once did I see an educator cuddle, hold or play with a baby.”

Nancy said she eventually found another centre, and her child drank a bottle on the first day.

“Seeing the two different centres and staff was an eye opener. I picked Grow because it was new, close to home and didn’t have any reviews at the time,” she said.

Several parents have come to the defence of the childcare centre, saying their own experiences have been positive.

Originally published as Grow Early Education Bushland Beach: Former staffer speaks out about Townsville childcare centre