Family daycare provider recommendation? Any users of Uni Adelaide childcare?

[Guest SarahWoods]

Dear all,

 

I have been offered tentatively a position in September at the University of Adelaide. I am looking into childcare as I don't want to leave my little girl with just anyone. She will be 2 by this time. I went to see a carer yesterday and to say I was HORRIFIED is an understatement. I could not believe this carer was accredited - the house was dirty, too small for her numbers, and T.V.s were in every room, cats milling about. Horrid.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations? We will likely be living in Broadview, so ideally somewhere near there. We have an amazing carer in the UK that basically treats my little girl as part of her family and that is what I am keen for. An alternative is we use the University of Adelaide childcare centre, but first impressions (by email) are not great.

 

Any help appreciated. I am really anxious about this.

 

Thank you,

 

Sarah

[Rachiegarlo]

I used McKinnon Pde childcare centre in North Adelaide . It is in a lovely old house and it has the best garden to one side of it. The people were really caring and we had a good experience there. Your daughter would go into the Toddler room. Annesley Junior School on Greenhill Rd in Wayville may have some spaces in their ELC as from this year they are accepting 2 year olds http://www.annesley.sa.edu.au . The school has a nice family orientated community and they wouldn't hassle you to send your daughter on into the school. I never used family daycare preferring that childcare centres have the ability to regulate who comes into the centre and usually have a planned day rather than the TV. Of course there will be excellent carers out there but sometimes they have a waiting list or you don't have a lot of time to look. I looked at many centres and picked the ones that I connected with the people rather than the ones with flashier premises.

[Guest SarahWoods]

Thank you for getting back to me. The only problem I have with a childcare centre is that the other half is a teacher. This means that with family daycare we have the potential felxibility that during vacation periods he could look after her; childcare centres only ever give 4 weeks holiday period (and at 50%).

 

I shall contact the centres all the same and have a look.

 

Thank you!

Sarah

[Guest Allybinoz42]

The Waite Campus childcare has a good reputation and I know one friend who is very happy with the care given there.

 

I have also seen them give presentations on their curriculum planning and have been impressed. However you don't always get the days you want etc but if you are an employee I would think you would get preference.

 

Other ones near the city try St Peter's Childcare another one a friend uses which is well regarded.

[Guest mazcatt]

Just reviving this thread for anyone looking for childcare from the age of two and up. We have had experience with two centre in Adelaide. First was Tilbrook Child Care at Goodwood, which is an excellent centre although quite hard to get into. They take babies from about six weeks (I think), and have a relationship with the kindy across the road so if parents want their four-year-olds to have a kindy experience as well as day care they easily can, as the lovely director or her staff will collect the kids at the end of their kindy session if they have daycare on the same day.

Our kids are now at Annesley Junior School at Wayville (just on the southern edge of the city). One is in reception and one in the day care (early learning centre). We moved the younger one out of Tilbrook so the children could be on the one site. It's absolutely fantastic. Both kids are super happy and because it is a small school there is exceptional focus on the kids. In the daycare/ ELC all of the carers are degree-qualified, with either education degrees, or in one case a psychology degree. The level of inquiry that the children are encouraged to take as they go about theirs hands-on learning is fantastic. I was quite blown away the first time I saw it in action.

Theres's also good quality before and after school care, and vacation care, so it makes life a lot easier during the times we need that.

[Guest cloudnine]

Hi Mazcatt,

 

Could you tell me roughly how much the fees are for Annesley School ? I saw your post and wondered if it would suit my two little people. I have a 2 and a 6 year old.

 

Many thanks!

[Guest mazcatt]

Yes, if you go here you can see the fee schedule http://www.annesley.sa.edu.au/enrolments.html as well as some other info about the school.

 

For reception to year-6, it is Annual Fee $7,800. On top of that you will have uniforms, and a few small excursion fees but nothing notable.

 

It is not as cheap as some - I think some of the Catholic schools are more around the $3000 mark a year, and then some of the other private schools are more around $11,000 or $12,000 a year.

 

For little ones (2year-5years) in the early learning centre the fee is Daily fee $78 (permanent bookings), and if you have two children at the school the second one will receive a discount, which applies too if you have one in primary and one in ELC such as yours (and mine).

If you qualify for the child care rebate system that operates in Australia, you get 50% of the ELC fees back and also after school care, before school care and holiday care fees (but not the tuition fees for primary school).

 

We chose the school because it is currently very small, which we thought would mean a good community (and it is), and as our eldest had been in full-time daycare elsewhere, it worked out about the same financially to put him in Annesley. We also wanted them to be in the one location as we don't have grandparents or extended family in Adelaide to help out with pick ups and drop offs.

 

We've found the after school care and holiday care when we use it for the older child to be good as well, which is nice to know.

 

We did look at public schools, and there are also some good ones in Adelaide, but we went for this option as we wanted both kids to be in the same place for now and given we are both working it just seemed like an easier option. If you have further questions, please let me know.