AppleBerries Early Education Service Noosaville

It’s taken me a long time to do this but that feeling in my gut to warn others hasn’t gone away. I removed my son from this centre as the level of care was just getting worse and worse and management didn’t give a crap. It’s all about profit and shoving as many kids in one room as possible even with limited staff each day. My son started attending when he was 5months - there were times he was in the same nappy as I dropped him off in and within 4 weeks he had burn blisters on the soles of his feet and my concern was not taken seriously until another issue happened with a child and the parent to took it further then they changed around the staff and I absolutely loved Yael she was the only reason I kept my son there and then when it came time to move up to the next class she thankfully got moved up with him but then after a few months we came in one day to be told me was moving classes again with new teachers which threw my son for a loop. It took him a few months to adjust and then we were moved up again with no warning. We went into JK1 and instantly clicked with his new teacher Miss Brooke and she made sure she created a bond with him and he was soo happy in her class and looked forward to seeing her every morning but then all of a sudden I got told on pick up on a Friday afternoon that the next week he would be in another new class to which he didn’t adjust at all too. From the minute we walked in the rooms no staff bothered to greet us or make an effort to say hello to my son or ask how his night was and he picked up on it. I pushed through for a few weeks to see if he would settle and it only got worse - from the minute he woke up and found out he was going to daycare he cried and cried the whole 40min drive there and would beg me not to leave him there. On my final straw was on drop off he was crying and I asked staff to take him and everyone said they weren’t in his room and didn’t know who was then I saw the team leader and asked if she could take him from me (every morning they would have to pry him off me) and put him on the swing as he loves swings and she told me she was busy and would soon so I waited 15mins with him still sobbing in my arms begging me to take him home, finally she came over to us and grabbed him and walked off…I just had this feeling to wait around and watch behind closed doors and she turned to see if I had left yet then put him down and walked off while he screamed and cried for me and not ONE single staff member went over to comfort him so I had to go back out and this “team leader” came bolting over pretending she was coming back for him. I got him a little settled and I snuck out and cried all day at work and pulled him out that afternoon. I had spoken up to managers about my concerns and nothing was ever done about it. Management have a fake smile at the desk then go on about their day like nothing was said. This centre is a very toxic place for young kids. In the years we went i saw first hand staff buying things for their rooms with their own money because management and owners wouldn’t. My son told me that he was called a sooky boy and that only girls cry by the educators in the pre-kindy. If your lucky enough to get Yael and Brooke as an educator your kids will be safe and happy. My son still to this day is petrified of this centre and works himself up into a panic state when we pull into the driveway to go to radiology. I am working on taking my complaints higher as this centre needs to be properly investigated to make sure it’s complying with staff ratios etc as it wasn’t for many years and I doubt it’s changed now. It took a while to get him to not be scared of daycare centres and he’s finally really happy and looks forward to each day.