First Steps Learning Academy Bangor

Great childcare. Very friendly and staff are always loved by the children Great childcare. Very friendly and staff are always loved by the children

Scott Thomas

Mar, 2024

This used to be a great daycare centre when managed by previous owners. Since being taken over by First Steps Learning Academy the... This used to be a great daycare centre when managed by previous owners. Since being taken over by First Steps Learning Academy the level of care has significantly declined. I encourage any parent to read the comments from the Barden Ridge centre because it appears there is a pattern to this poor behaviour from staff. The new owner took over and made no effort to introduce herself to parents. The communication ceased and it wasn't until I approached the owner that I found out my details were not in the system correctly and I was not receiving correspondence from the centre. In saying that, their communication was dreadful...we only heard from accounts to collect our money! The children had gone from regular staff to a different casual teacher every day and were naturally reluctant to enter a room full of strangers. One day I was greeted by a young staff member who told me she was in charge and the next minute she was demoted back to her old role and that role was recently advertised. The social media profiles of staff were public and content does not meet the Department of Education code of conduct. When I raised this with the owner she accused me of age discrimination and not giving young staff a fair chance. Age has nothing to do with it and your public profile and the content you post should meet community expectations. The centre made changes and decided to cease all sleeping in the preschool room without informing parents. That room has 3 year olds who still need day sleeps. The centre runs a child led approach and my daughter informed me that she went hungry because she did not ask for afternoon tea. She also told me that the new teachers don't make her wash her hands like the old teachers before lunch time. On drop off I have witnessed children with snotty noses who clearly need to be attended to and sent home. One child had dry snot on her cheeks. I also witnessed a young child with her hands in a dirty nappy whilst the teacher just sat on the floor. The place used to be clean and hygienic but this standard has also been dropped. The floors are dirty and garbage bins have been left out the front for days on end. There is a real "not my job" mentality from casual staff who don't care about the environment and presentation of the centre. Child safety is out the window...parents used to have to announce themselves at the door and declare the name of their child...this safety measure does not exist now and tailgating is allowed. The place have no idea about OHS. There was a broken metal bollard that had been hit by a delivery truck in the car park. The bollard was loose and there was a massive pothole in the carpark. My daughter touched the bollard and I had to catch it before it caused damage. I had to call the office to have this moved after it sat out the front for days. Pothole still there and no signage up to avoid injury. These issues are only a short list that I have raised with the owner. Owner said to report incidents to her for internal investigation. That would be like informing the bank robbers how long it takes the police to be on site once the alarm goes off. These and other incidents reported to the proper authorities for investigation. This centre is a fine example of corporate greed, a lack of appreciation for the good staff they had and an example of everything that is wrong with the industry. Read more

Nicole Smith

Sep, 2023