Guardian Childcare & Education Caulfield

Thank you to Chelcee and the team for making me feel so welcome and heard during my visit. Coming from an early childhood... Thank you to Chelcee and the team for making me feel so welcome and heard during my visit. Coming from an early childhood education management background I can confidently say I would recommend this service to anyone looking for a service with the best interest of the families and children at heart. It is a hard process as a first time parent to make a decision about the care you wish to place your child in and although I'm not quite ready to enrol yet, the decision for future has been made extremely easy for me as I navigate my way through this life change. I would 100% recommend Guardian Caufield to any new parents as they manage to put you right at ease. Centre Manager Chelcee is a blessing and very approachable and understanding of all situations. Thank you to the Guardian Caufield team for making this process a little easier to navigate. Read more

Anonymous Carer (Anonymous Carer)

Oct, 2024

Avoid This Centre – Serious Safety and Management Concerns Our experience at Guardian Childcare & Education Caulfield North has been nothing short of a nightmare.... Avoid This Centre – Serious Safety and Management Concerns Our experience at Guardian Childcare & Education Caulfield North has been nothing short of a nightmare. As parents, our top priority is the safety and well-being of our daughter, but after multiple incidents at this centre, we no longer trust their ability to provide either. So much so that we withdrew our child and placed her at another centre.First and foremost, communication and transparency at this centre are severely lacking. Our daughter suffered a head knock, and not only were we not notified, but when we arrived to collect her, she was left in a wet nappy, missing socks, and was inconsolable for hours afterwards. To make matters worse, it wasn’t management or a witness who informed us of the incident—it was a staff member who hadn’t witnessed the event but was relaying second-hand information. What was most troubling was that we weren't called, and no incident report had been raised. We had to chase up the report ourselves because one hadn’t been raised for several days.When we followed up to complete the report, the staff member who was present for the incident was clearly distressed and unable to access the BeSafe app to record the details. Management was nowhere to be found during all of this, leaving the staff without support and causing further delays. This lack of leadership and care is completely unacceptable. We also experienced disturbing behaviour from management during a formula incident that further eroded our trust. They left a message for me that I didn’t see for some time due to limited access to my phone. Worse, they failed to notify my husband, who is also listed as a contact and later lied about not having his contact details on file. Initially, they claimed they had run out of the formula we provided but then switched the story to say it had been spilled. The fact that this lie was told to us by the former 2IC and that the person who has now taken up the position of 2IC also relayed the same misinformation is deeply concerning. It reflects poorly on the type of management practices that are considered acceptable at Guardian. This raised serious concerns about their transparency and whether our daughter was left without food during this time. Perhaps the most appalling incident was the bullying of a staff member by the former centre manager, which I personally witnessed. The way this staff member was treated was deeply concerning and speaks volumes about the toxic work environment. On top of that, the new centre manager inappropriately discussed the staff member's visa status with us and told me she had suggested to that staff member that they " should find a husband" and secure their visa that way. This level of unprofessionalism is unacceptable and calls into question the ethics of the management at this centre. After complaining about these incidents, we felt brushed off by the portfolio manager about our complaint; considering that they didn't take these matters seriously, we chose to remove our daughter from the centre. We felt it was no longer a safe environment for her. To top it all off, when my partner went to the centre to collect our daughter’s belongings after we withdrew her, he found the staff overwhelmed and unable to cope, with one carer asking him for help locating management because she was distressed and struggling to manage the room. Worse, in another room, he saw a clear violation of the staff-to-child ratio, raising even more concerns about how understaffed this centre is. If you value your child’s safety, look elsewhere. This centre lacks the professionalism, management, and care that should be expected from any childcare provider. Read more

natalie fryar

Oct, 2024