madsad

Hi,
Has anyone used the ABC Centres for childcare? (Brisbane)

I have a 3yr old who attended playgroup back home 5 afternoons a week & now shes begining to miss it.
I phoned our local ABC Centre,Northlakes, Mango Hill.to see what was available for her,she would be attending kindergarten for her age group,they have 3 days available for her at a cost of $121.50 a week :scared: although we should get some sort of child benefit to cover some of the cost?,(dont really understand the benefit side of it or how it works so if someone could explain i would really appreciate it!)
I am going down tomorrow to collect enrollment forms,have a chat & a nosey around but would appreciate any feedback from parents who have any experience of using the ABC Centres.

Is anyone using this centre for their kids & could share their thoughts on the place??

Thanks,
Donna.

ABCDiamond

No personal knowledge of the ABC centres, but they are the largest in the country, and opening new branches all the time.

Child care benefit, from Centrelink, is calculated based on the income of the family, and can cover up to around 85% of the cost in some circumstances.

Here is the relevant Centrelink page: http://www.centrelink.gov.au/interne...re_benefit.htm

You should be able to ring Centrelink on 131 021, to get accurate figures, but let me know if you have problems.

ABCDiamond

A couple of examples of Child Care Benefit:

1 child between 5 and 13 years

2 parents, 1 works earning $50,000, the other doesn't: 76% rebate of schedule fees.

2 parents, 1 earns $50,000, the other $25,000: 41% rebate of schedule fees.

2 parents, both earn $50,000 each: 16% rebate of schedule fees.

Check what the schedule fee is compared to the fee charged by the Child Care centre.


Sometimes it is cheaper for the child to go into child care full time, rather than just half days. I don't know why, but that's what happend to us in 2000.

madsad

Cheers for the info ABC Diamond,thats a great help

Donna.

RichS

My kids attend a child care centre that was taken over by ABC. I can only report my beliefs and feelings, so please go along and judge for yourself.

Our experience was that many of the staff left soon after ABC took over. The emphasis of the centre became very money/profit centric as opposed to previously where it was child centric. The core values of the old regime like preparing kids for school and carrying out informal assessments have largely gone out of the window. The food is more 'junky' than before. The turnover of staff is amazing. It's never slow in this market. Many of the carers move inot teaching infants school etc, but now we get a procession of backpackers who you know aren't going to be there for more than 3 months. The staff are not of the same quality that we previously experienced.

I presume by your symbol after the $120 for 3 days care that you think you're getting it cheap. Try the Sydney ABC centres. We wouldn't get 2 days for that, and in the CBD centre I think they go above $70 per day.

Anyway QLD was the home of this company so maybe the service is better there. I'm only recounting my thoughts and experience.

ABCDiamond

Here is a link to the Essential Baby Forum QLD, it may be worth also asking on that forum.

sophia

Hi there,
We're in WA and i have to say I agree with RichS on this too. We enrolled our little boy to a Junior Junction daycare centre when we first arrived here in 2002. it was a great homely place with staff that stayed and actually cared about the children. It was then taken over by Peppercorn Management, some of the staff left and it started slowly going downhill. ABC centres have now taken over Peppercorn Management and the place (in MY opinion) has gone downhill badly. The staff turnover is high, I didn't feel that the caring and learning emphasis was there anymore and more importantly my little boy said he didn't like it there anymore.

Thankfully we've got him into his school's afterschool care program.

Just our experience, but thought you'd be interested.

love sophia xx

ABCDiamond

This thread is about the ABC centres in QLD:
http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/CFFo...8&Topic=138170

madsad

Hi,
Well we had a visit to the ABC Centre,everything seemed ok,clean,plenty of toys,outside play area etc..Louise starts on Monday for 3days a week & we will see how thing go.
Im a bit wary after whats been said but only time will tell.
Louise loved playgroup back home & i enjoyed a couple of hours "me time" too,although she went 5days back home it was only for 21/2hrs each afternoon,so how she is going to take to a full day im not sure but the ABC Centres hours are flexible so you can have your children there for a couple of hours & collect them if you wish,you have to pay full day costs regardless.

As for food,i have to give Loui a packed lunch for the day & plenty of fluids (atleast i will know what shes eating for the day that way)

Louise,s costs for 3days per week were $121.50.
I phoned child care benefit today & we will get a 76% reduction of the fee so our fees will be roughly $30 for 3days a week.

Ive took on board your comments & i will keep a close eye on how things progress.

Donna.

helinuk

Hi
while I was in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago I went for a few interviews at Peppercorn and ABC childcare centres. I was not inpressed! I have many years experience in childcare in UK and abroad. The ratios of staff to child are not as good as uk. The staff were not happy by the take overs, and the profit seemed to be the priority. There were not many toys around.

I very much want to go to Melbourne but I was not happy with what I saw in the daycare centres this time so goodness knows how I'm going to get the job to apply for the RSMS visa.
I digress, sorry-
Please go for several visits, ask about ratios, BTW the qualified childcare workers are only earn $15-18 an hour, in the long day care centres they start work at 6.30am and on late shift finish at 6.30pm!
Good luck I hope you a place you and your child are happy with.
Helinuk

queenie

My son and daughter went to ABC on the Gold Coast for 18 months. It was Aussie Kids originally then got taken over just as we joined.

We never had any problems with it, completley fine. High staff turnover - only 1 or 2 girls the same after 18 months.

I did think they watched a lot of TV there though. I would have preferred to save that for home!

Queenie