A child care provider has been fined tens of thousands of dollars after three unsupervised toddlers were locked inside a storage shed for seven terrifying minutes.
The Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal has fined Nest Early Education Services $20,000 in connection with a shocking incident at one of its childcare centres in North Perth in September last year.
The court heard the children had been left unsupervised for a few minutes when they managed to escape.lock yourself in the shed ‘from the inside’ by lifting the door.
Facts agreed by the centre, which operates as Nido Early School Duncraig, and the Department for Communities revealed the children were trapped for seven minutes before anyone realised they were missing.
A teacher went to get a key to let the children out, after which they returned to the play area.
The trio returned to the unlocked shed shortly after, ‘“Again in the absence of any educator,” the department found.
Their investigation found that the provider had failed to provide adequate supervision to the children.
The centre’s supervision plan, which stated that the 70 children in its care were to “remain within sight at all times”, was not followed at the time of the incident, Seven News reported.
Nest Early Education Services was fined $20,000 for leaving three three-year-old children unsupervised at Nido Early School Duncraig (pictured)
In addition to the $20,000 fine, Nest Early Education Services was also ordered to pay $2,000 in legal costs.
Department for Communities acting executive director for regulation and quality Angelo Barbaro reiterated that proper oversight “is a required standard”.
“The Education and Care Regulation Unit will continue to work with education and care providers to ensure they have appropriate measures in place to support their staff in providing appropriate supervision of children,” Ms Barbaro said.
Mirrors have since been added to the center’s blind spots and its monitoring plan has been updated to include A new employee induction program.
The State Administrative Court found that the children had been left unsupervised for seven minutes, during which time they managed to lock themselves inside a shed “from the inside”.
Another Nest Early Education Services center was previously found guilty of negligence when Nido Early School East Victoria Park was fined $22,000 in February 2023.
At the time, staff had left a two-year-old child outdoors for 85 minutes unsupervised.
The “hot and sweaty” boy was found crying in the back corner of the playground and staff used a wet towel to cool him down.
There was no evidence suggesting that the child needed immediate medical treatment.
On that occasion, the childcare provider was ordered to pay $2,500 towards the Department of Communities’ legal costs.
