Good, bad and ugly: Every Tassie childcare centre rated

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A HOBART childcare centre has credited its success to committed staff and a strong connection with families after being named by a government agency as one of the top centres in Tasmania.

Lipscombe Early Years Education and Care in Sandy Bay was rated as “exceeding” national quality standards in a recent report by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority.

The body assesses childcare centres on seven criteria – education, health and safety, physical environment, staffing, relationships with children, partnerships with families and communities, and governance and leadership.

The categories are marked as either “significant improvement required”, “working towards national quality standards (NQS)”, “meeting NQS”, “exceeding NQS” or “excellent”. Each centre is graded an overall rating.

Rio Mele, Clara Luddington, Betty Langdon and Kelly Ashton (director) The Lipscombe Childcare has been ranked a top centre, exceeding government standards.

Lipscombe centre director Kelly Ashton said the achievement was a reflection of the centre’s ability to adapt to current best practices.

“We stay aware of current best practice and keep our eye on research that changes in the sector to remain current,” she said.

The centre boasts an infant room, toddler space and focuses on natural play.

“Engagement with the natural environment is big for us - I think that it’s very important for children - when we think back to our childhoods our strongest memories are related to the outdoors and nature so that’s something that we’ve acknowledged and incorporated.”

Best ranked childcares in Tassie

Ms Ashton has been working at the centre for 32 years and said she takes pride in the “amazing committment of staff” in an industry that usually has a high turnover.

“Children that I once cared for are coming back with their own children so we’re just really lucky to see those strong connections and really great memories that families have created with us.”

According to the ratings, 52 Tasmanian childcare centres have an overall rating of “exceeding NQS”.

40 had an overall rating of “working towards NQS”.

No Tasmanian centre received the lowest rating.

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