Orchard Early Learning Centre Kirrawee

My child attended Orchard from September-December last year. It was our first daycare so I didn’t know what was normal or not. We started a new daycare this year and the differences are like night and day. Out of the 3 months we were at Orchard, there were tears at drop-off for the first 2 months. My child hasn’t cried at the new daycare and was fully settled in by day 3. So that others can make an informed decision about where to place their child, here are some of my observations from our time at Orchard that I have not noticed at our new daycare: - My child came home every day with dried snot and food all over their mouth. - They have high turnover. At least every fortnight they had new/casual staff members commencing. - An over-reliance on trainee staff. Familiar faces who worked most days were trainees. The educators who would greet us early in the morning and be there at the end of the day tended to be trainee staff. - Lack of accountability and responsibility of who does what. Floor staff will say speak to reception, reception staff would say speak to the floor staff. Don’t even get me started on their internal admin. Our last day was on December 24th. It’s been 12 weeks and we are still yet to be refunded our bond when they advised it takes 4-8 weeks. - Finger and hand prints on the glass doors that look like they were rarely cleaned. There were positives as well so I won’t discount them: - My child formed wonderful bonds with the regular educators and by month 3 would lean into the educators at drop-off - Orchard hold regular events including a grandparents day and Christmas Party. - They reliably update the app throughout the day. I truly believe the educators at Orchard have a genuine love for the children and would never cause any intentional harm to them, but I could see that they are overworked and not fully supported in their roles. Good leadership and good culture starts from the top so this is not a criticism on any of the staff we encountered during our time there as I truly believe they were all doing their best. The owners of Orchard need to check themselves as it’s evident they aren’t looking after their staff. The cost of our current daycare is on par with what we paid at Orchard so there shouldn’t be any reason as to why the same standards and outcomes can’t be achieved by them compared to our current daycare.

My son has been going to Orchard ELC for almost 4 months now and he’s doing great there. He loves the educators, plays with lots of toys, enjoys the food and he is learning to become more autonomous and confident in his skills. We also love receiving the daily updates and getting photos of what he’s been doing on the day via the app! I’ve recommended Orchard to many of my friends with little ones ☺️