New Commission shuts down services that fail to keep children safe
NSW Early Learning Commission
The NSW Early Learning Commission has this week ordered multiple services across NSW to stop operating due to an unacceptable risk posed to children.
The Commission’s role is to ensure approved providers of early childhood education and care services in NSW meet their obligations to provide services that are safe for children and are of high quality.
The cancellations issued include the service approval for the early learning service at Lycee Condorcet Sydney – The International French School and the provider approval for Great Western Family Day Care. These cancellations are due to persistent poor quality, repeated non-compliance with the National Law and Regulations and unacceptable risk posed to children.
Early childhood education and care provider Lycee Condorcet Sydney operates an early learning service on the grounds of an independent school of the same name in Maroubra. The service has never met the National Quality Standard and has been issued seven compliance actions and had 42 breaches of the National Law since 2024.
Great Western Family Day Care has consistently demonstrated poor overall management and governance by the approved provider, which has not been sufficient to meet the standards required under the National Quality Framework. Since 2018, the service has been issued a total of 11 compliance actions and there have been 411 confirmed breaches of the National Law across all educators providing care under their service approval.
As these cancellations have been issued on the grounds of unacceptable risk to children, there is no external review option available through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal due to nation-leading reform in NSW which embeds the paramountcy principle of child safety in law.
Both cancellations are effective from 6 March 2026, and the NSW Early Learning Commission has advised families of the cancellation and reasons for the closure. The NSW Early Learning Commission will be closely monitoring these services, including by conducting unannounced visits until the closure date.
Fairytales Preschool and Long Day Care Centre in Carlingford has been issued with an immediate suspension this week, requiring them to immediately stop delivering education and care. This came after a number of serious non-compliance and safety concerns were identified, with investigations into the service continuing.
Concerns at Fairytales leading to the immediate suspension included the service using CCTV to conduct sleep and rest checks on children, failure to maintain and follow policies and procedures, failure to make mandatory reports and failure to comply with the new Ministerial Direction on electronic devices.
The NSW Early Learning Commission’s Information and Enquiries team are available to support families that may be experiencing difficulties in finding alternate education and care. Our team can be contacted on 1800 619 113 or via email [email protected] from Monday – Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Please attribute to the NSW Early Learning Relieving Commissioner Kristian Holz:
“These decisions send yet another strong signal that we will not tolerate poor performing services who fail to keep children safe.
“These are services that have consistently failed to meet National Quality Standards and have repeatedly breached the National Law – I make no apologies for taking this strong action.
“The NSW Early Learning Commission will continue to act decisively to protect children where providers are unwilling or unable to address safety concerns, or where they fail to demonstrate a genuine commitment and proactive effort to improve quality and protect children
“We understand the impact service closures have on families, however the most important decision we can make is to keep children safe, happy and supported in a high quality service when they attend early learning each day.
“Under New South Wales’ nation leading reforms, children’s safety must be the paramount consideration for the NSW Early Learning Commission, approved providers, services and everyone involved in the sector.”
About us:
The NSW Early Learning Commission is the independent regulator for early childhood education and care in New South Wales. The Commission is responsible for regulating over 6,000 ECEC services across NSW to ensure they meet stringent standards of safety, quality, and compliance. The Commission oversees these services to protect children’s health, safety and development through rigorous, ongoing assessments and compliance monitoring.
Contact details:
Kate Hancock 0499 843 397 | [email protected]