Gympie, Fraser Coast and Bundaberg best and worst childcare centres ranked

Some of the 128 child care centres across Gympie, Maryborough, Hervey Bay and Bundaberg are failing to meet government standards, while others are exceeding expectations. Every Wide Bay childcare centre ranked. FULL LIST

A good start in life for their children is every parent’s dream, and is particularly important across the Wide Bay where our young people are starting well behind the eightball.

Almost one in five children (19.2 per cent) across the Gympie, Fraser Coast and Bundaberg council areas are developmentally vulnerable in two or more areas, the latest Commonwealth Department of Education and Training Data shows.

This was well behind the state average of 13.9 per cent.

Bundaberg children were worst off, while Gympie’s youth were closing that gap fast.

It is easy to see why, with all 24 Gympie region childcare centres meeting or exceeding National Quality Standards, according to Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority records.

It was a similar story across the Fraser Coast where none of the region’s 48 child care centres failed to meet NQS guidelines.

Bundaberg still had room to improve.

Six Bundaberg child care centres - Gin Gin Early Daycare, Eastside Little Learners Childcare and Development Centre, Gooburrum Outside School Hours Care, Oakwood School Aged Care Programme, Mount Perry State School Kindergarten, and The Mango Tree Childcare Centre – were “working towards the NQS”.

Wide Bay parents are spoiled for choice when it comes to high performing centres.

Half the centres in the Gympie region exceeded the guidelines, the highest overall performance within Wide Bay.

Across the Fraser Coast that number slipped to 40 per cent, and in Bundaberg 38 per per cent were rated at the top.

Kitiwah Early Learning Centre on Gympie’s Southside is one of the 12 top rated Gympie centres, a rating it has held for more than eight years.

Director Lee-Ann Hendry said the centre was “run on reputation”.

“We have wonderful families here at Kitiwah. We received ‘exceeding’ because we’re always … improving on what we have here already,” Mrs Hendry said.

Kitiwah Place Early Learning Centre director Lee-Ann Hendry with staff member Rachel Dan.

“We get a lot of word of mouth … because it’s such a beautiful centre and such a small community in Gympie.”

The strong performance of all Gympie centres, which are all meeting the NQS, was likely driven by the market, Mrs Hendry said.

“Once someone sets a standard … you need to keep constantly improving to try and keep competitive in this environment.

“There are quite a few centres in Gympie and if you don’t keep your standards high you will lose customers.”

Mrs Hendry said the rating system was “strict” but existed to support the children and families who use the centres.

“We will continue to strive towards it,” she said.

Kids on Calton Early Learning Centre - Emily Gailer, Michael Andress, Tracy Salter, Jack Bell and Noah Cleary.

Kids on Calton Early Learning Centre director Tracy Salter said the rating system was a good starting point, but it should not form the entire picture for parents.

Chrysalis Early Learning Centre was one of Bundaberg’s 21 centres exceeding the guidelines.

“The system is based around trying to improve health and safety outcomes for children and also developmental and educational outcomes,” she said.

“If you’re looking at those things and you’re basing your judgments off whether a service is meeting the standards I think that’s a great thing.

“I don’t think it’s the full picture though.”

Mrs Salter, whose centre has been running in Gympie for 16 years and was most recently rated as meeting guidelines, said parents needed to inspect centres to understand whether they could offer what was desired.

“It’s really important to actually come and see services and see what meets your needs,” Mrs Salter said.

“I’ve never, ever had a person walk in and say ‘I’m here because of your rating’.”

“They’re normally here because they’ve heard great things about us, they want a structured environment for their children, they need their child to be learning something before they go to school.”

Hervey Bay’s Bayside Early Learners was among 20 top rated centres at the Fraser Coast.

Not everyone was a fan of the system, though.

The Mango Tree Childcare Centre director Caitlin Fletcher questioned the rating system, which this year rated the Gin Gin centre “working towards the QQS” instead of exceeding it as it had in 2014.

This was despite the centre maintaining the same standards in that time, Ms Fletcher said.

“We’ve kept everything the same,” she said.

“Nothing has changed.”

Goodstart Early Learning Pialba was among 20 Fraser Coast centres exceeding the NQS guidelines.

She said there was now a higher emphasis placed on paperwork than its practical offerings when it came to ratings.

“It’s not just us (that holds this view),” Ms Fletcher said.

“We have a good rapport with other centres in the Wide Bay and a lot … feel the same.”

She said the centre was committed to putting children first.

“Children are the main reason we are here,” she said.

Centres exceeding NQS

Gympie

Kids Bizz Childcare Centre; South Side Kids-R-Us Developmental Learning Centre (No.2); Family Day Care Gympie Region; Gunalda and District Kindergarten; Alma St Pre-Prep; Kitiwah Place Early Learning Centre; Goodstart Early Learning Gympie; Mykindy At Victory; C&K Gympie South Community Kindergarten; Jones Hill Koala Kids OSHC; C&K Tin Can Bay Community Kindergarten; Kilkivan Kindergarten

Fraser Coast

Carramar Community Pre-School and Kindergarten; Granville Community Kindergarten and Preschool Association Inc; Tinana Pre-School and Kindergarten; Maryborough Community Kindergarten and Pre-Prep Schooling; Helping Hands Riverside; Bayside Early Learners; Goodstart Early Learning Pialba; Busy Bees at Fraser Coast; TG‘s Child Care - Urangan; Goodstart Early Learning Point Vernon; Hervey Bay Family Day Care Scheme; Condy Park Pre School and Kindergarten; East Street Kindy; Fraser Coast Anglican College Roos Care; Goodstart Early Learning Dundowran; Fraser Coast Anglican College Early Learning Centre; Bay Explorers Early Learning; Helping Hands Torquay; St James Lutheran College Outside School Hours Care; Bay Explorers Early Learning, Urraween

Bundaberg

Bears and Books Learning and Childcare Service; St Mary‘s Bundaberg Outside School Hours Care Service; Bundaberg Community Kindergarten; C&K Oaks Beach Community Kindergarten; C & K Forestview Community Kindergarten Association Inc; South Kolan Community Kindergarten; Chrysalis Early Learning Centre; Eastside Little Learners Childcare & Development OSHC Centre; St Luke‘s Early Learning Centre; Piper Central World Of Learning; Acorn Child Care Centre; St Patrick‘s After School Care; Goodstart Early Learning Bundaberg - George Street; Goodstart Early Learning Bundaberg - Takalvan Street 1; Expeditions Early Learning Journey; Cuddle Bugs Kindergarten & Pre-Prep; C&K Bundaberg South Community Kindergarten; C&K Walkervale Community Kindergarten; Acorn East; Kids & Co Moore Park Beach; Gin Gin Kindergarten

Centres working towards NQS

Bundaberg

Eastside Little Learners Childcare & Developmental Centre; Gooburrum Outside School Hours Care; Oakwood School Age Care Programme; The Mango Tree Child Care Centre; Mount Perry State School Kindergarten; Gin Gin Family Day Care Scheme.

* The story has been edited to correct the Local Government Area of information about Gin Gin Family Day Care Scheme.

Originally published as Gympie, Fraser Coast and Bundaberg best and worst childcare centres ranked