Mother furious after Canberra childcare centre ordered to close

A Canberra mother had concerns for her daughter's safety at a childcare centre in the city's north-west for more than a year before the ACT regulator ordered it to shut.

Alison Sweeney, whose daughter attends Edge Early Learning in Higgins, said she was not surprised the Children's Education and Care Assurance (CECA) issued the centre with a notice to close.

"We've been having issues now for a couple of years with the centre, director after director, with the high staff turnover, and obviously incidents with my daughter," Ms Sweeney said.

"It got to the point where I didn't particularly feel safe with her going to school each day."

She said her daughter, Blake, had wandered from the centre more than once, had her hair cut with adult scissors and knocked out her front teeth while playing on equipment.

"She's now without teeth until her new ones come through, which shouldn't be until next year," she said.

"Do better. They've let an entire community down, and I just think it's appalling."

Regulator cracks down after incident

The regulator issued Edge Early Learning in Higgins with a notice to close for a month until August 13, accusing it of failing to respond to a serious medical incident involving a child.

"CECA is currently investigating a range of issues arising from the incident," a spokesperson said.

Some families received an email from Edge Early Learning's CEO Chris Chambers on Thursday night, informing them the centre would abruptly shut.

"We are disappointed that CECA has now required the centre to close immediately," Mr Chambers said in the email.

He said the centre had terminated a staff member over the incident and suspended others while an investigation was underway.

"While we are pleased that the child is OK, I want to be very clear that the educator's response to the incident was completely unacceptable."

Worsening quality of care

Ms Sweeney said she had noticed a sharp decline in the quality of care at the centre when Edge Early Learning took over from the former operator Little Penguins.

At the time, her eldest child, Nixon, was attending the centre.

"As soon as Edge took over, there was a noticeable change instantly,"

she said.

Ms Sweeney, who runs a small business, now has to take her daughter to work because she is unable to work from home.

"It leaves me in a situation where I have to take her to work with me every day, which is not ideal at all," she said.

She said the centre's sudden closure would also impact her daughter's friendships and she would not get the chance to graduate properly.

"I may not even put her back in daycare," Ms Sweeney said.

'We need to tighten regulations': Emerson

Edge Early Learning is a large childcare provider that operates centres around the country, including in South Australia and Queensland.

Earlier this month, the South Australian childcare regulator closed the company's centre north of Adelaide in Gawler East, after a child was served food with an allergen the centre knew about.

Independent MLA Thomas Emerson, an advocate for stronger childcare regulation in the ACT, backed the regulator's decision to suspend the Higgins centre.

"I think it's good to see the regulator taking firm action,"

Mr Emerson said.

He said that centre had a history of incidents related to poor supervision, inappropriate discipline, and an educator working without a Working with Vulnerable People check.

"It's really disappointing," he said.

The member for Kurrajong said the latest incident was another example of why the ACT government needed to increase standards of care in the sector and better support smaller community operators.

"What I haven't seen is enough support for the smaller local providers that are run by people who are part of our community," he said.

"We need to tighten regulations."