Daycare tour checklist: the questions to ask when you visit a centre

What should I check before the tour?

Look up the centre’s quality rating, check its hours and fees against what your family needs, and write down the two or three things that matter most to you so they don’t get lost on the day.

• Its quality rating. Every approved service is assessed against the seven quality areas of the National Quality Standard and rated Excellent, Exceeding, Meeting, Working Towards or Significant Improvement Required. StartingBlocks.gov.au, the free government website run by the national regulator ACECQA, shows each service’s rating, fees and vacancies. A new service may show “Provisional – Not Yet Assessed”.
• Hours and days. Do the opening hours cover your drop-off and pick-up, with some margin for traffic?
• Fees and subsidy. What is the daily fee, and roughly what will you pay after the Child Care Subsidy?
• Your non-negotiables. Allergies, sleep routines, the language you speak at home, a place for a sibling — whatever matters most to your family.

What should I ask about safety and supervision?

Ask how many educators are with your child’s group, how children are supervised indoors and outdoors, how the centre checks who is collecting your child, and how it handles illness, allergies and medication.

• How many educators and how many children are in my child’s group?
• How are children supervised outside, at rest time and at meals?
• How does sign-in and sign-out work, and how do you check who is collecting my child?
• What happens if my child becomes unwell during the day?
• How do you manage allergies, medication and dietary needs?
• What are your sun-safety and sleep practices?

Minimum educator-to-child ratios are set by law, and NSW has its own figure for children over three. Ratios are calculated across the whole service rather than room by room, so it is still worth asking who will be with your child’s group.

What should I ask about the educators?

Ask who would care for your child day to day, what qualifications the educators hold, and how long they have been at the centre. Educators who stay give children consistent relationships.

• Who would be my child’s main educator, and can I meet them today?
• What qualifications do the educators in this group hold?
• How long have most of the team worked here?
• How do educators get to know a new child and their routines?

What should I ask about the program?

Ask what a typical day looks like, how much of it is spent outdoors, and how the program follows the Early Years Learning Framework — the approved learning framework that services for children from birth to five base their program on.

• What does a typical day look like for my child’s age group?
• How much of the day is spent outdoors?
• How do you use the Early Years Learning Framework, and how will I see what my child is learning?
• How do you prepare children for school in the year or two before they start?
• Are meals provided, and what is on the menu?

What should I ask about settling in and staying in touch?

Ask how the centre helps new children settle, how you will hear about your child’s day, and whether you can call to check in while your child is getting used to care.

• How do you help new children settle in during the first weeks?
• Can we visit together before my child starts?
• How will I hear about my child’s day?
• Can I call to see how my child is going?

What should I ask about fees and enrolment?

Ask for the daily fee and what it includes, how the Child Care Subsidy and any NSW fee relief are applied, and how waiting lists, changes of days and notice periods work.

• What is the daily fee, and what does it include?
• How is the Child Care Subsidy applied to my account?
• Do you offer NSW Start Strong fee relief for 3 to 5 year-olds?
• Are fees charged on public holidays or when my child is away?
• Is there a waiting list, and how much notice do you need to change days or leave?

What should I look for, not just ask?

Watch the children and the educators. Children who are busy and relaxed, educators who get down to a child’s level and speak warmly, and walls covered in the children’s own work tell you more than any answer to a question.

• Are the children engaged, or waiting around?
• Do educators get down to the children’s level and listen to them?
• Is the centre clean, safe and well kept, inside and out?
• Is the rating certificate on display? Services must display it at all times.
• How did the visit make you and your child feel?

At Jolly Frog, a tour is a chance to look around, meet the educators and ask us anything on this list. You can also book a free class day, where your child joins a session and sees how it feels. Book a tour or a free class day.