Kindy Patch Queanbeyan childcare centre. Photo: Kindy Patch Queanbeyan.
Childcare centres run by one of Australia’s largest providers have been the focus of hundreds of compliance notices, emergency-action notices and show-cause notices in recent years, documents released by the NSW Department of Education show.
G8 Education operates more than 400 childcare centres across Australia, including two in the ACT – Lavender Lane Early Learning Service in Gungahlin and NurtureOne Holt Children’s Centre in Belconnen.
There are also three in Queanbeyan – Kindy Patch Queanbeyan, Crest Road Early Learning and Crestwood World of Learning.
G8 is also the company that paid Genius Childcare $26.5 million in early 2024 to take over 31 of its loss-making centres, including five in the ACT.
NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd has obtained notices issued to various G8 Education centres by the state’s childcare regulator as part of a recently launched NSW parliamentary inquiry into the childhood sector.
The documents recount instances of old fittings inside centres, such as stained and fraying carpets, toilets that didn’t flush, rotting wood on verandas, stained and lifting laminate, and children’s lockers that exposed raw wood edges.
In some cases, the centres were filthy or in disrepair, with reports of dirt and grime on nappy change mats and change benchtops.
A cook at one centre was caught by a NSW inspector not wearing gloves and wiping her nose before continuing to prepare food.
At another centre, a bottle of baby’s milk was on the floor uncovered, and hot food was exposed, and when the regulator asked how the educators ensured hot food stayed at a safe temperature prior to the children eating, there was “a lack of awareness of the process”.
On 29 March 2022, a compliance notice was issued to Kindy Patch Cuddly Bear in Queanbeyan when a child was left alone and managed to “scale a low-lying fence, behind a sandpit area” and escape the premises before staff realised.
Another child then tried to follow but was stopped by a staff member as they arrived for their shift.
In a subsequent investigation, the NSW regulator found the fence was of an inadequate height.
Inside the Kindy Patch Queanbeyan childcare centre. Photo: Kindy Patch Queanbeyan.
Ms Boyd told the ABC she wouldn’t be surprised if similar breaches to these extend further than childcare centres in NSW.
“Each of these incidents taken in isolation may not be cause for huge alarm, but it’s the patterns of offence and the structures that permit it to occur that warrant a big-picture view of this sector,” she said.
In a statement to Region, G8 Education said “the safety, well-being, and development of the children in our care is our number-one priority and we acknowledge the importance of maintaining public trust”.
“G8 Education is dedicated to giving Australian children the best possible start in life through quality early childhood education and care.”
It said the incident at Kindy Patch was “self-reported” and followed by a review “to resolve any future risk”.
“This review resulted in the approved fence being replaced by a higher fence. Additionally, there has been a key focus on team members, that has included new centre leadership and a focus on the professional development and training of team members.”
So far, NSW Greens said the documents they’ve received only account for less than one per cent of all they requested, and it’s limited to NSW centres.
In response to questions from Region, ACT childcare regulator Children’s Education and Care Assurance (CECA) said it had received five complaints and 15 notifications of incidents across both of the ACT’s G8 Education centres in the past 12 months.
CECA has received 35 complaints, incident reports or statuary notifications about Genius Childcare centres over the past year.
Genius Childcare Gungahlin racked up the most with 11 cases, followed by eight at Gowrie, seven at Symonston, six at Condor and three at Bonython.
In late February, the regulator closed down Genius Childcare Gungahlin for nearly two weeks due to child health and safety breaches.
Around the time of the Canberra Day long weekend in March, a new provider, Bright Buds Early Learning Centre, took over the Symonston centre after the landlord terminated the lease with Genius over more than $28,000 in unpaid rent.
Centre director Divya Mahajan told Region the state she found it in was “just so bad, I can’t tell you”.
“It was filthy,” she said.
“That weekend, me and my girls spent every day here from morning to midnight trying to clean up everything.”
Staff found mould in the air-conditioning and around wet areas, “filthy toys and resources”, and expired medicines in the cupboards. The signage out the front also hadn’t been changed from the previous provider and still read “Kinderhaven”.
“They had never had a professional cleaner for a year. Can you imagine a childcare centre without a cleaner, with the toilets and everything?”
Bright Buds Early Learning Centre, Symonston. Photo: Bright Buds Early Learning Centre.
New signage is up now, and the centre has retained most of its staff and families, but Ms Mahajan says work is still in progress to replace the air-conditioning system and clean up the outdoor yard.
She said the problems likely stemmed from the fact the Genius centres were all managed “remotely” rather than by an on-site director.
“Even when I booked a tour, it was through a centralised number, and when I turned up, an educator just took me around.
“Their roster used to just come through on a WhatsApp group or something, and they would just communicate there. Nobody ever came here to see the state of the centre.”
Genius Childcare entered administration on 17 March.
Genius Childcare has not replied to repeated requests for comment.
