Gather Early Learning

Do not send your children to this service. The owner, [Name Removed], previously operated a service in Mornington that was ultimately closed following serious compliance concerns. There have also been ongoing reports from staff and families about unpaid entitlements, questionable fee practices, and a general lack of transparency in how the service is run.

From my experience, everything presented to families is very different from what actually happens behind the scenes.

The centre has regularly been understaffed, with ongoing concerns around ratios, staff treatment, and the overall safety and wellbeing of both children and educators. Policies and procedures that should be fundamental in an early learning environment often feel like they are treated as optional rather than essential.

Communication with management is extremely poor, and concerns raised by staff or families do not appear to be taken seriously or addressed appropriately.

Parents deserve honesty, transparency, and a service that prioritises children’s safety and educator wellbeing above everything else. Unfortunately, that has not been my experience here. Don’t get caught up in the mess of [Name Removed].

My child was with Gather and lasted about 8 months under [Name Removed]’s owner ship until I raised some issues around concerns my child raised with me. I was instantly dismissed and told my child was lying. Inconsistent payments being taken weekly. Very hard to get ahold of [Name Removed], physically and via email, though she claims she is always reachable. Very high staff turnover over.

My child started to hate going to daycare when they were once so excited to go. Behaviour started to go bad around this time also. Since moving they’re back to their old self. Low risk management, child was constantly having head falls and black eyes with little explanation. We don’t have this issue at the new centre.

No updates on what your child has eaten, if they’ve slept, if they’ve gone to the toilet etc. All you get told at the end of the day at pick up is ‘they had a good day’

Would not recommend this centre to anyone at all.

Gather formally known as Cooinda Early learning was purchased from Little Scholars by someone who is named Jay (Unknown last name) approx 6 months ago. Since then the quality of the support has dropped. Below are some examples.| -The daycare Bus stopped on day one of new owner taking over with no notice. She told me she was unaware they had a bus. -Invoices/receipts stopped being sent, we asked for copies of them again in February and several times since and still have not received them 2 months later. -We seem to have been over billed on multiple occasions. -Refusal to have meetings with parents about behaviors, incidents, billing. -High staff turn over (1 original staff member who is amazing! To be fair a lot of the staff on the floor are really good) since the new owner. -High client/children turnover since the new owner took over. -Refusal to give anything in writing about incidents including when children were sent home. -Refusal to put in writing about what behavior management was used. -Moving a 2 year old to the Kindy classroom as a permanent thing without consulting or notifying the parents. -Lack of response to emails. -Lying, claiming they have been having lots of consultations with (me) the father of the child (About a specific period of incidents) when in reality all except one conversation was along the lines of Jay saying "I can't talk now because I am with other children" or "I can't talk in front of your child." -Attempting to use reasoning with a 3 year old instead of deescalation techniques during behavior outbursts (Tantrums). -Refusal to discuss what might have caused unexplained never-before-happened anywhere near this level, behaviors of concern (This can be a sign of abuse neglect or harm).

Unfortunately I cannot recommend this place to look after your children. My experience is that money will be taken from your bank account without explanation, behaviors are not managed appropriately, the owner will refuse to discuss the issues in any detail.