A young boy escaped a Sydney childcare center and was left “unaccompanied” as a shocking rise in the number of complaints across the sector emerges.
The centre in Kellyville Ridge was convicted of two offences and handed a $5000 fine after the incident on July 31 last year.
The child wandered 1km away from Kellyville Ridge OSHClub “unsupervised” and “unaccompanied” before being discovered by police over an hour later, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
The masthead also revealed that the NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority (ECEC) had received a significant increase in complaints and notifications in a three-month period compared to last financial year.
There were 752 more complaints between April and June compared to the previous year, as well as a 53 per cent increase in staff complaints.
The number of total serious incidents reported for 2024-25 financial year was 9430, up from 1143 reports the year before, according to data.
It comes after series of alarming scandals in childcare centers across NSW and the country this year, including a woman being charged in September over the alleged assault of a four-year-old boy.
The woman was arrested after the boy was allegedly forced onto a bed at Grow Early Education in Kelso, near Bathurst, by a 24-year-old female staff member in August.
The child was said to have struck the edge of a bed and sustained a two-centimetre laceration to his head.
An investigation was also launched in September into an incident at First Steps Learning Academy in Bangor after a grandfather accidentally took home the wrong child.
It occurred after staff reportedly handed over another toddler, who was asleep at the time.
The ECEC confirmed it had launched a “thorough investigation” into what it described as a “deeply concerning and serious incident”.
In July, Play to Learn Early Learning centre in Turramurra caught fire in a blaze that police treated as suspicious.
In the wake of the arson attack, Play to Learn head of operations Jemma Quinlan told Today she couldn’t believe the centre was targeted.
“We have generations of families that have been through Play to Learn – this has never happened before,” she said.
Read more on Sky News Australia
