Daily London
The Fun2Learn centre at Rosehill permanently shut its doors on Friday after dozens of breaches were uncovered.
News of the shutdown was delivered to 37 families in mid-December.
Acting Early Learning Minister Courtney Houssos said: “This shouldn’t come as a shock for the centre, when they have failed to meet the standards for 12 years.”
While no serious child safety incident occurred, the Early Learning Commission is making no apologies for cracking down on providers.
“We’ll continue to do so to rebuild the trust in parents so they know that when they drop their children at a childcare centre that they have confidence that it’s in a safe and a quality environment,” Houssos said.
Among the 41 breaches since 2023, authorities claim they found an emergency exit door at the centre padlocked shut.
Unlabelled chemicals were lying around in children’s bathrooms and there was no appropriate plan for children with severe allergies.
Other breaches included consultants without proper working with children checks, children playing with dangerous objects and poor hygiene in the centre.
When 9News spoke to the owner this morning, she was distraught, adamant that she would never put a child at risk and that she was working on a continuous improvement program – one that had been set down by the department.
Fun2Learn is the first to be closed under new tougher regulations, but between July 2024 and the end of September last year, 22 other centres were shut for breaches.
The minister said the department would work with families to find an alternative.
“We know that it can be really difficult to find a place but we have to balance that against the responsibility we have to ensure that children are safe,” she said.
