{"id":508655,"date":"2026-01-11T14:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/508655\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T14:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:09:29","slug":"fun2learn-childcare-centre-in-sydneys-west-shut-by-new-regulator-after-decade-of-safety-breaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/508655\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun2Learn childcare centre in Sydney’s west shut by new regulator after decade of safety breaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sydney childcare centre that failed to meet standards for 12 years has been shut down as part of a crackdown on dodgy operators by the early learning commissioner.<\/p>\n

Fun2Learn in Rosehill in the city’s west is the first centre to have its doors forcibly shut by the new regulator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2023, there have been 41 breaches identified at the centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These included employing staff who had not completed working with children checks, padlocking fire escapes and not checking its fire extinguishers since 2011.<\/p>\n

The centre’s owner has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

Since 2023, 41 breaches have been uncovered at the centre.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

A litany of incidents at childcare centres prompted the state government to last year introduce extensive reforms for the sector, including the establishment of the NSW Early Learning Commission.<\/p>\n

Under its powers, the commission can conduct unannounced checks and take immediate action.<\/p>\n

Its acting commissioner, Daryl Currie, said the shutting down of Fun2Learn “sent a strong message”.<\/p>\n

“That we will not hesitate to take action against providers who place children at risk by consistently failing to address safety and quality concerns, even where a serious child safety incident has not yet occurred,” Mr Currie said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“All children deserve safe, high quality early learning experiences.<\/p>\n

“We understand the impact service closures have on families but consider this necessary to remove the risk to children.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Daryl Currie says the commission will not hesitate to take action. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

The centre along with the parents of the 37 children impacted were notified of the closure in December.<\/p>\n

41 breaches at the centre<\/p>\n

Courtney Houssos, the Acting Minister for Education and Early Learning, said that while 93 per cent of centres were meeting standards, there had to be consequences for persistent failures.<\/p>\n

“The [Education] Department and now the commission has sought to work with the centre over a very long period of time,” Ms Houssos said.<\/p>\n

“I’m advised 18 visits over 12 years but there have been 41 breaches of the national childcare standards and there has to be consequences to those.<\/p>\n

“We think it’s Important that the commission has powers to step in when required and this has been required.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She added that there was a long process involved prior to closing centres, and in this case, the decision was not “taken lightly”.<\/p>\n

“The department and the commission do work with individual centres,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The commission visits every centre at least once every 18 months, just as a check-in but they are required to do more close work with centres that are not meeting standards.”<\/p>\n

\"Courtney<\/p>\n

Courtney Houssos says 93 per cent of centres have been meeting standards. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

When asked what the centre had to do to reopen, Ms Houssos said the owner could reapply.<\/p>\n

“But that will be one where they need to work with the commission to show that they have got new practices, new processes in place that will protect child safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is something that we take very seriously, that the process of ratings and assessment must mean something.”<\/p>\n

Regulators not doing enough<\/p>\n

Public records show the centre had only been officially rated four times since 2012, but Ms Houssos said the centre had been visited many more times for compliance checks.<\/p>\n

Australian Childcare Alliance CEO Chiang Lim said operators that repeatedly failed to meet standards should be shut down.<\/p>\n

\"chang<\/p>\n

Chang Liam questions why centres that aren’t meeting standards weren’t being closed earlier.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

But he said national laws had given authorities the power to close substandard centres since 2012, and questioned why that had not been done earlier.<\/p>\n

“So why hasn’t the regulatory authority used them?,” he told the ABC.<\/p>\n

Mr Lim also warned that childcare centres where educators had been found to have sexually assaulted children had sometimes rated as having met or exceeded national standards.<\/p>\n

“I am not convinced that [regulators] are doing enough, or that their targets are the correct ones,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

The government is helping families impacted by the Fun2Learn closure to find alternative care.<\/p>\n

In a statement from late November, not long after the commission was set up, the government announced that more than 550 services had been inspected.<\/p>\n

There are 6,100 early learning services across New South Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Sydney childcare centre that failed to meet standards for 12 years has been shut down as part…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":508656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,25090,31586,227556,227557,407,227558,50,227555,5326],"class_list":["post-508655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-childcare","tag-commissioner","tag-courtney-houssos","tag-daryl-currie","tag-education","tag-fun2learn","tag-news","tag-nsw-early-learning-commission","tag-nsw-government"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115876866671838440","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}