University Preschool and Child Care Centre Lennox Crossing, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601

"Great environment with caring educators. The centre's focus on outdoor play and child-led learning really shine through. Helen, the Centre's Director, has created such a fantastic and nurturing environment for the staff - and the kids benefit! Since he started going, I've watched my son become a confident and caring little boy. Highly recommended."

"UPCCC has been an absolutely incredible childcare centre and our children have thrived under the nurturing, supportive, high quality care of the staff. It has a wonderful culture and ethos, set in a great location, and the activities and programs are very high quality. I fully recommend UPCCC to all families, from babies right through to the preschool program."

"A fantastic centre full of love, professionalism and fun. We have been blown away with the support and quality of care that we have received from all the wonderful educators at UPCCC. The educators are unbelievably kind and welcoming, which is shown in how quickly the children gravitate to them, highlighting the safe and warm environment UPCCC has created. We have had three children go through the centre from the babies room at 6 months all the way through to the Preschool room. My kids are always excited and happy to go to school. 10/10 Could not commend this centre highly enough to other families who are looking to start their little one’s journey to education!"

"I have had both my children going through UPCCC since they were under 6 months of age and we couldn't be more grateful of the support and community they have provided to our family over the past 6.5 years (and counting). The personalised, warm approach the educators take with each child creates a safe and accepting environment for children of all abilities and backgrounds. As a bilingual family we have been particularly impressed how UPCCC supports the multicultural aspect of our children's development, in addition to their normative developmental needs and challenges. A very low staff turn over (and multiple ACT educators awards) speaks on behalf of the extremely high quality care that the centre provides not only for their children, but also for the families and people who work there. This is the best child care centre you can find in Canberra, with appropriately long wait list (so get in early)."

"This center is great for children, as long as your child is not considered a "problem". After dealing with "developmental delays" and "behavioural issues" for the better part of two years we removed our child from the center after we had an independent party attend the facility for 1 hour and they observed (1) other children lying to educators about our child's behaviour with no correcting/interrogation, (2) other children goading our child to elicit a "behavioural issue" response from them, which our child was reprimanded for whilst the other child was not, (3) educators were giving our child mixed messages and reprimanding them for behaviours they were not conducting, (4) labelling our child as having certain conditions without any official diagnoses, and (5) generally treating them as a problem to be managed instead of a child that needed support and understanding. Once we removed them from the center the "behavioural issues" and "developmental delays" disappeared seemingly overnight. We followed through with all the recommended diagnostic tests, and the only conclusion that the various therapists could come to was that the observed behaviours and delays were a result of something happening in that center that was inducing extreme anxiety in my child. When they were later approached about providing any more information on what could have been happening there was nothing new provided, only copies of reports which emphasised what my child was doing and not what other children or educators had been doing. Seems that their philosophy of inclusion and advocating for the child only extends to those they seem worthy of it. The way they managed this situation not only negatively impacted my child, but many others in the cohort. Also, hearing stories from other parents who encountered similar issues and how educators favoured certain children over others only throws up more questions about what was really going on. If your gut is telling you to leave, then do it. Upon reflection, it seems they are more interested in protecting their reputation than supporting "problem" children and undertaking self-reflection."