G8 Education Ltd’s Great Beginnings childcare centre in Cloverdale fined after toddler wanders into carpark

One of Australia’s largest childcare providers has been fined more than $65,000 after two toddlers managed to leave a Perth facility unnoticed, with one venturing into a busy carpark. A 19-month-old and a two-year-old managed to leave the “toddlers room” at Great Beginnings Cloverdale on July 18 last year, after they walked straight past a staff member who was holding the room door open for a parent picking up their child. The two-year-old stayed in the foyer but the 19-month-old walked out of the automatic front doors unnoticed while parents were picking up their children from Hardey Road facility. The self-closing gate separating the front of the childcare centre from its carpark failed to fully close, allowing the toddler to push it open and wander into the carpark. A parent of another child who had arrived in the carpark saw the child and, not seeing an adult with her, took her back inside. Another parent had also found the two-year-old in the foyer and returned her to the toddlers room. It wasn’t until both children were returned that the three staff on duty realised they had left. The incident was captured on CCTV. Following an investigation the Department of Communities took G8 Education Limited, which operates Great Beginnings Cloverdale, to the State Administrative Tribunal over the incident. The tribunal found the 19-month-old toddler “was at risk of harm and hazard likely to cause injury at (their) age and height in a car park, particularly at a time when parents were driving in and out when collecting their children from the service”. It also ruled it would have been a reasonable precaution for G8 Education to have ensured a staff member was permanently stationed at the reception desk in the foyer to attend to parents picking up their children during busy periods. “Despite appropriate training and documented procedures being in place, educators did not follow the supervision protocols outlined for busy transition periods,” the SAT ruling said. “In this instance, the educators failed to comply with G8’s procedures and risk management controls and did not exercise appropriate oversight of the children in (their) care. Disciplinary action was taken against the educators.” The centre was fined $65,000 and had to pay $2000 towards the department’s legal fees. G8 Education has since retrained all staff on supervision protocols and risk control procedures, as well as assessing doors and gates and upgrading where necessary. It follows the increased scrutiny applied to childcare centres and their staff nationwide after former Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with 70 offences related to alleged sexual and other offending in July. The 26-year-old is accused of offending against eight children at Creative Garden Early Learning Centre, also operated by G8 Education, in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023. Police say the alleged victims were between five months and two years of age. More than a thousand children were also asked to undergo health screening following the charges. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan at the time described the raft of serious alleged offences as “shocking and distressing”. Last month, Federal, State and Territory education ministers signed off on a national trial of CCTV cameras in hundreds of childcare centres nationwide in a bid to improve child safety. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said while the trial was “not a silver bullet”, it was “an essential component in what we need to do if we want to keep our children safe”.