Whether you’ve been offered a new position with your dream company or you’re simply looking for the best ‘childcare near me’ in your area, there are a number of factors that require careful and deliberate consideration. Just because it’s urgent doesn’t mean you need to settle for the low bar of “childcare centre near me” – in every area across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, there are childcare centres that go beyond supervision and into education – so, no matter how quickly you need to find a centre, it’s worth comparing the options near you.

Selecting the best childcare Brisbane option for your family is not to be taken lightly. If you are hoping to ensure that your child or children receive the best possible care in the best possible centre, this is a decision-making process that you should begin as soon as you can.

You may be thinking of a childcare centre close to home or close to where you work (and there are benefits to both ideas). With that in mind, here is a brief guide to choosing the best childcare near your work or home.

Take Your Tours

Perusing a website is a great starting point to selecting the right childcare centre for your family but it doesn’t give you a complete and accurate picture of the philosophy, atmosphere and methodology behind an early education centre. You must visit the facilities to see the learning in action.

Your best option is to secure yourself an individual tour as opposed to being on a group. Questions and concerns can get lost in a crowd and a big group of adults can be a distraction to the children’s learning so you won’t get to see them properly engaged (or not, as the case may be).

You might want to ask the following questions on your tour of a childcare near you:

Other questions may naturally arise during the course of your tour. Pay careful attention to what the children are doing and how their educators are interacting with them. Consider how you would like your child to be treated and see if you can imagine them in this particular space.

Tour the nearest Little Scholars School of Early Learning

We have 14 early learning campuses across the Gold Coast, Redlands and in Brisbane

Centrelink Requirements

Your child must have a CRN (customer reference number) with Centrelink in order for you to receive the Childcare Subsidy. You also must have completed your Childcare Subsidy Assessment. You can find further information on that topic here.

Once your centre has your CRN and you are registered with Centrelink for the childcare subsidy then you can leave it in their hands. Subsidy payments will be made directly to the centre according to the rate of subsidy you are eligible for.

Selecting Childcare Near Me

Once you have chosen the perfect childcare either near your work place or close to home, there will be a range of enrolment steps you have to go through. A typical enrolment process will include:

  • Proof of identity (birth certificate)
  • Place holding fee to secure your child’s position at the centre
  • A meeting with the centre director to discuss procedures, expectations and to come to a mutual and respectful understanding about your child’s early years learning pathway

Preparing Your Child For Childcare

It is vital to work with your child and their future educators to create as smooth a transition into childcare and early years learning as possible. This will be dependent on your child’s personality and their prior experience with learning outside of the home.

Your centre should (and make sure you ask this on the tour) have an orientation system in place wherein you spend some time with your child in their learning environment. You might stay for an hour and then leave briefly to see how they go. This is a process that should be tailored to your family’s individual needs – be wary of centres trying to force you out the door before you feel comfortable!

Learn more about settling in at Little Scholars

Beyond the orientation program, there are a few things that you could do to ease this transition process.

  • Involve your child in the choosing of their childcare ‘stuff’. Bags, hats and water bottles could be chosen by your child and clearly labelled by you.
  • Talk with your child A LOT about how things will be different but fun. Discuss the possibilities that an excellent childcare centre opens up for them – the friends they’ll make and the fun they’ll have learning new things.
  • Give your child as much exposure to their new environment as possible in an attempt to normalise the process. Do the drive or the train trip with them, practice getting ready in the morning and draw pictures of how great their childcare centre truly is. Make it part of your dialogue at home.

Listen To Others

Finally, ask others for their opinion. Try local Facebook groups, friendship circles and family to see what they have heard about your chosen centre. Check for testimonials that speak in an honest, genuine way about how childcare has enriched the lives of families just like yours.

Choosing The Best Childcare Near Me

Choosing the best childcare centre near you is no easy feat. There are so many variables to consider and so little time to make big decisions in! After all, this is your baby. You don’t want to trust your beloved child to just anyone.

If you’ve Googled “childcare near me” talk to Little Scholars School of Early Learning before you settle on a childcare centre. Our commitment to Brisbane, Redlands and Gold Coast families is to provide more than “just supervision” – we go beyond “childcare” – we even go beyond the EYLF guidelines for quality early education.

We believe that these formative years are the building blocks for your child’s whole life and we don’t take that responsibility lightly. Yes, we offer childcare near you, but we offer so much more than that. Just because you urgently need a place for your child, doesn’t mean you need to compromise on care.

Your child doesn’t just deserve the closest childcare to you but the best one. Little Scholars provides the resources and opportunities for your child to flourish