Find the Closest Daycare Near You

The quality of care and education in a daycare provider is the number one factor families look at when choosing a centre that best meets their needs. And perhaps the second most important factor, alongside the quality of care, is location. After all, you need a daycare centre that is conveniently located and makes your life even easier.

Over 1.3 million children are currently enrolled in childcare centres across Australia, and Most families who access childcare are busy working parents, so it’s important to ask yourself which day care centres are near your place of employment as well as which centres are near your home. If your daycare is conveniently located near your workplace or your home, your life logistics will be a lot easier to navigate. And happy, less stressed parents, mean happier children!

What is a daycare called in Australia? Well, daycare centres in Australia go by many names including daycares, childcares, and even childcare and education centres. So, when you’re searching for a daycare centre near you, you have many key terms you can search for online. Or, you can start by visiting a daycare centre you’ve seen in your local area.

The best age to enrol your child in daycare is anytime after they reach six weeks of age. This timeframe allows you and your baby to bond during those first precious weeks of life, and it also represents the time some parents choose to return to work after taking leave. Once this happens, you’ll need a daycare that fits into your new schedule.

That’s why the opening hours of any centre you consider are a big convenience factor as well. The number of hours your child should be in daycare will depend largely on your family’s personal schedule. And that’s one of the major benefits about day care centres—they are open for a lot longer than community-based or school-run daycares— which means you have more time to get things done. After all, that’s how daycares work. They provide excellent care for your child when you have to be away. 

If you choose a centre near your home versus one near your office or vice versa, ask yourself, “how will this impact my ability to drop off and pick up my child on time?

Knowing your child is nearby can be reassuring, and it makes life easier if you need to factor in appointments during the day, or traffic delays to and from work. Trusting someone to care for your child is an important decision and it the daycare centre you choose needs to be the overall best option for you and your family. You might even want like to consider other practical considerations in mind, like:

  • Is there any parking? If so, is it dedicated, timed, all day or hard to find? Struggling tofor a park atto do drop off and pick up times each day will soon become an issue and you’ll wish you would have thought about parking before enrolling your child.
  • Pram access and storage. For those who prefer to travel on foot, make sure you find out whether or not you can safely store your pram on the premises during the day.
  • Proximity to Public transport. If you’re traveling by bus, train or tram, find out how far the day care centre is to your closest stop. And be sure to add in the travel time it will take you to reach the daycare centre from the closest stop when calculating your drop off and pick up times.
  • Availability of casual care bookings. These are worth their weight on gold if your schedule has a tendency to shift a little. Some daycare centres offer casual bookings, while others do not So make sure you do your homework. The number of days that are good for daycare in your family may differ from the number of days that make the most sense for other families.
  • What communication do they offer for families on a daily basis? If you want to know what your child is doing throughout the day, and follow along with their learning journey, make sure you find out what the centre offers you in this department.
  • Can you claim the Child Care Subsidy (CCS)? And if so, what will your fees be after your claim the CCS?

Speaking of childcare subsidies, the price of daycare per day in Australia differs by childcare centre, but you may be eligible to reduce that rate through the Child Care Subsidy. Guardian is happy to help you calculate how much you’ll owe once the CCS has been applied, so that you can determine your family’s day care cost per day—and avoid any budgetary surprises.

There are also some less obvious, but equally important, things to consider when weighing up the best daycare Centre for your family:

  • Is there a play-based Pre School or Kindergarten program available? Helping prepare your child for primary school is a huge advantage of attending a high-quality daycare. Guardian run incredible Moving On Up To School programs for children aged three and up at many of our locations across Australia.
  • What other kinds of learning opportunities will your child have? How will the Teachers and Educators support your child throughout the learning process? And is this something that’s important to you? At Guardian, our Teachers and Educators place your child at the centre of their own learning journey and support them as they explore the world around them through play-based activities.
  • Will the Centre keep you up to date during the day with what your child is doing?
  • What will your child be eating on a daily basis? Some daycares offer on-site cooks and all meals and snacks are included. Others require you to pack food and formula/milk for your child. Make sure you find out what your chosen daycare centre provides as this is a big factor when it comes to your day-to-day planning. At Guardian, we have a commitment to the health and well-being of all children who attend our centres.
  • Does the Centre include nappies, bibs, bedding and other such items?

Here are some other questions to ask when choosing the best daycare centre for you. And feel free to contact us at 1300 001 119 with any additional questions you may be left with.

Making the decision to leave your child in the care of anyone else is tough enough. At the end of the day, finding the right setting for your child can make a huge difference to the way they feel about learning and how they engage with the people around them.

There are significant learning milestones for children between birth and five years – many of them not obvious to the untrained eye. Our Teachers and Educators are trained to identify and encourage those natural instincts in your child at each stage of their learning journey – from birth to school and beyond.

A child’s brain develops faster in the first five years than at any other time in their life. Yet children do not learn how to read or write overnight. Nor do they simply begin the year before formal schooling commences. The foundations for literacy and numeracy are there from the moment a child is born. That’s why it’s imperative to provide babies and children with the right support and stimulus from the get-go.

Children – no matter their age – learn best when they feel secure and happy. When they are in a stimulating environment, with a supportive network to be successful.

So, while the convenience of location is the second key factor in choosing the best daycare for your child, there are a number of other factors that come into it as well.

With more than 120 Centres across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide, there’s likely a suitable daycare near you.

Browse the map below to see which Guardian Centres are near you and click through to read more about what they offer for families and children.

Centres near you