Sage Institute of Child Care

Awesome Program – I found that a lot of negative people writing comments about Sage to be completely untrue. I started studying in 2016 and now have successfully completed my qualification. I found my trainers and any replacement trainers to be knowledgeable and thorough throughout my course. Everybody in my class got assistance for placement when we asked the… Read more

trainer for help.

Most of my classmate including myself were offered jobs during our placement and Sage provided a working towards letter when I asked for one. The facility I'm currently working at said to me one of the reason they employ Sage Student is cause Sage holds students to higher standard than most other places.

I agree with a comment that there were a few spelling mistakes on the slides in class. We pointed them out to trainers and they were fixed.

In my opinion all places I went to before I joined Sage sugarcoated their programs. Some classmates thought they would get a free ride to a qualification with Sage but quickly found out they would have to actually work for a future I guess.

The ones that complain are usually the ones that don't won't to put in an effort, in the right areas.

I would recommend Sage for anyone wanting to get into Childcare.

WASTE OF TIME! WORST DECISION I'VE EVER MADE – Enrolling into Sage was made out to be fun and the best decision I had made for my future. Once classes commenced, reality hits you and you are faced with dated & dirty classrooms, dated & dirty facilities such as the toilets and kitchen area are filthy and classrooms that don't even have craft supplies for tasks that you need to do as a student!… Read more

The slides that are presented to you are pointless and most times aren't even spelt correctly or even worse, lacking key information about the actual course and subjects you are doing.

The trainers do not give you enough time to work on tasks and always skip the slides and say things like, "I dont know who made these" and question the content of the subjects and content taught to their own classes.

Placement is NOT found for you, they do not help you with finding placement, even if you struggle to find somewhere they just tell you to keep looking.

Upon finishing our "formal" classes in Feb this year, more than half our class is still needing to start and even complete both placements and have no guidance from anyone as our trainer was made redundant due to Sage going through voluntary administration, which is all being kept quiet.

You try to get in touch with head office, the co-ordinators and get false hopes when advised someone will be in touch, but reality is you're waiting a week to hear back on knowing what is actually happening with your future and the career and qualification that they made you believe you had.

In whole, the entire course, enrollment and staff are misleading and beat around the bush.

This "Institute" is a waste of money, time and should not be running.

Even childcare centre's refuse to take you as a student when you say you're from Sage.

I should've gone to Vic Uni and at least I would've been respected and have a qualification that I was proud to say where I studied.

Please, anyone reading this, do not enrol here, dont let the advertisements and the pictures on their social media of "happy students" doing fun things suck you in!

Someone needs to get this all on A Current Affair, and let the public know how terrible the Institute really is.

Waste of time!!!!!!!! – A complete waste of time & money!!!!!!! Staff are not helpful, misinformed about Courses and its just left me VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!!! EARLY CHILDHOOD CERT. (Child Care Course)!!!! Its absolute rubbish! Phone call after phone call & going into the Sage (location in Oakleigh) was just a waste of my valuable time. STOP ADVERTISING PLEASE & Misleading people. Its unfair!

Racist EDUCATORS! – This institute is the most racist school I have come across. Especially if it not from a Caucasian background. Educators discriminate against students. It was brought to the CEO [name removed] attention he refused you accept and has still kept the childcare coordinator in the position after several complains. Extremely racist school in which… Read more

hardly anyone graduates from this school is money hungry caution to all of you out there.

They will SCAM you out of it tuition fees and it likely NOT to have it DIPLOMA like 99% of the student there. THIS SCHOOL no go ZONE!!!!

Do Not Go!! Money Hungry! – I have never been so disappointed in my life about a decision I've made until studying with sage!! They do not care about the students at all and are only money hungry. I'd warn everyone off this place and caution you all to not give them a cent.

Do Not Go To Sage - Consider This A Warning – Sage is the most corrupt, money hungry and disorganised company i have ever come across. Be warned, their facilities are sub standard, they trainers - when they show up - lack care and the worst thing is they will quote you a course fee to get you to sign up before submitting your details to the ATO accompanied by an $18K tax debt. Then if you try… Read more

to communicate with them they will ignore you. They won't take your calls or respond to your emails. This includes the General Manager and the owner. Neither could care less about you. The place is a disgrace.

Oh if you want to study in a room with broken heaters, spider webs and broken windows...head on over the Sage.

Please...DON'T GO TO SAGE. You will end up with a qualification that is not respected and massive tax bill leaving you in debt for years. Go to any other course provider as Sage is a typical privately owned company who only care about your money.

SAGE INSTITUTE OF STUPIDITY – $12000 for a childcare diploma and pay in 3-5 years. What a joke! Please avoid this place and don't fall into their marketing tactics! BE AWARE

Setting you up for failure! Money hungry institute! – This is possibly the WORST school I have come across, all the marketing first drew me in but this is more of a MONEY HUNGRY institute. There are not many avenues to make a complaint as they are privately run so BE CAREFUL. They fist tell you when you enroll that there are many student infact there are less than 5 people in each class so be AWARE,… Read more

in this school I HAD LITERALLY 15 different teacher in a one yr course no joke! For those of you doing childcare there is a new coordinator [name removed] who is EXTREMELY Racist and is reluctant to graduate student but rather oppresses them as individuals she's is extremely rude and bullies the students at sage. Educators there are reluctant to help students and provide assistance it's more of a job they do NOT CARE what's so ever to help Students. For those of you doing evening class after 8pm if you go out on your break you will be LOCKED OUT of the institute which is stupid as you need a break hence missing OUT CLASS TIME!

This INSTITUTE is EXTREMELY DIRTY, despite their high fees toilets are nasty classroom ceilings broken and leaking. IN the summer no AIRCONDITIONING and vice versa for the winter no HEATING. When you complain to receptionist they yell, receptionist are rude they are a bunch of really young girls with BAD Attitude!!! This is not the only bad thing about this INSTITUTE it has a LOW GRADUATE RATE at 30% of possible 100% which is very LOW!

ONCE you sign the tuition fees off they treat students like crap, it's all laughs and smiles before than so just a WARNING! Once you leave this INSTITUTE IS HIGHLY unlikely to help with your transition. They make it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to give you your Academic results and stuff it's not a smooth sail. It's honestly not worth going through these troubles DON'T LET ADVERTISEMENT suck you in NOT a good INSTITUE, dirty, no help to student, bad mouthed staff and new Racist COORDINATOR!! PLENTY of schools to choose from, Do yourself a favour and DONT ENROL, this school will only set you for FAILER! As can be seen with the 30% GRADUATE RATE!

Hope this gives a heads up! And hopefully you don't fall into their SCAM!

Goodluck with your journey!

I do NOT recommend...SAGE will trick you into enrolling! – I have heard a lot about this course through media ads and was interested in finding out more. I called them up to enquire, the lady who answered sounded very young she was quite helpful and managed to answer all my questions. At the end of the phone call she told me to come in sometime during the week with my Passport, Drivers licence and… Read more

High-school Cert. (I found it odd bringing Personal ID if we were only discussing about the course.) I asked if I could come in the week after instead but she was very persistant on meeting up straight away, so I agreed. She sent friendly text messages through different phone numbers to confirm the "Chat" we had booked.

When I arrived at Sage, the staff were friendly and young. The young lady I had talked to on the phone took me into a private room. She discussed what the course is all about, although it was pretty much what she explained to me on phone. She told me her personal story about how she got into the course, which I related too.

However, I personally felt like she was telling me what I wanted to hear to persuade me into enrolling.

She told me the starting dates of the course, end of January or March. She asked when I would be interested in enrolling, I told her maybe March as I was still deciding. She convinced me that it was best to enrol in January.

During the chat she would pop out of the room for a few minutes, each time she would have new paper work for me to fill in. I was naive and went along with it. She came back with more paper work and basically said "I talked to my Boss and you've been accepted, there is only 3 spots left." I highly DOUBT that there were only 3 spots left...

Eventually she sucked me into enrolling, asking me if I wanted to make a full $450 deposit or pay half and the rest on the day of my first class.

I asked if I were able to go home and talk to my parents about it first, then come back and put through a deposit the week after. Straight away she said, exactly this "No you have to pay for the deposit now." I decided to only put through half the deposit. (I had a gut feeling that I didn't want to enrol straight away.)

I was feeling so shocked and confused that I was put on the spot like that. She definitely took advantage of the fact that I am young and naive. She disappeared and that was the last I saw of her.

Soon after, her Boss took over. I was surprised as he was also quite young and not very professional. He came in with a handful of final paperwork basically telling me to "Sign here, Sign there, Sign this." with hardly any explanation of what I was signing for. He didn't even mention a Census date if I had decided to not continue with the course or explained what I had to do if I changed my mind about enrolling. He was very quick and short. Obviously too busy with other people enrolling...

Straight away I decided I didn't want to be learning in an institute controlled by money hungry people, who care more about marketing their way into getting students to enrol. Rather then actually caring about future students passions and needs.

I called the Institute on the day to tell them I wanted to cancel my enrolment and wanted my money back. The receptionist told me to leave my details and she would get the lady I talked to about enrolling to call back. A few days later, still had no call. So I rang up again. The receptionist said the same thing. I eventually got a call back and the lady tried to convince me on deferring rather then cancelling. I said no. She told me she would send me an email with the cancellation form and once the form is submitted, I would receive a refund of the deposit I put through.

A few days pass, still no email.

So recently I tried to ring again, the reception once again said the same thing.

I decided to take matters in my own hands and just ring the various numbers the lady called me off and it had gone straight to voicemail.

Until one number reached her. I asked her when I would be receiving this cancellation form so I could I get my refund. She sounded like she was caught off guard and replied with "We've been having problems with our scanner, we will send you the email soon." She was not professional or helpful at all and came off very rude. I'm still waiting on an email from her with the cancellation form.

Overall I am very dissapointed with Sage Institute of Child Care. The advertisements may sound appealing and may make you believe what you want to believe. But unfortunately, I felt like I was just one of the many people who were trapped and sucked into enrolling. They use very good marketing skills to get you to join and are very persistent at first. After they get what they want, they stop all contact with you. I have definitley learnt my lesson from this experience that I'm still trying to end. I had to write this long review to let other people who are considering of enrolling know what I had experienced, just a heads up.

Do not not recommend sage AT ALL – I was first interested in sage because of their radio and tv ads, they speak about how flexible they are and how they will work around your lifestyle, I've wanted to study for a while now and trying to balance it around work was difficult, so I thought I would give them a go. First with a phone call, they seemed really interested and got my… Read more

attention almost instantly, speaking about the flexibility and the environment was great. I made an appointment to speak with them further. The appointment was good, spoke about what sage has to offer, spoke about the payment plans etc, then the person said "I'll be back" comes back with all these forms (I was told this was just to speak about the course) then it turned into a sales pitch, all about me, how great id be once I completed the course, which yes! It did draw me in, then all of a sudden payment was needed, I needed to sign these forms to be enrolled because the class was full I needed to do this now or I'd have to wait until the next course start which wasn't for a few months so if I wanted this now I needed to sign. So I did, thinking damn I do need to do this now. I was told my start date would be in 2 weeks and that I would receive a call to give me the exact date.... I never received a call, I called on the number they called me from (mobile number) just kept getting voicemail, tried to call reception and they had no details of me (got a bit worried because I did hand over money to start) spoke with another person and they said they would send me an email with the details, I waited a day and got nothing.... So on the Saturday I thought I'd try again, I now get told my class started on the Sunday, I found out 1 day before my class started... (Thanks for the communication sage) I end up going to the Sunday class because I was excited to start finally! Turns out there were only 7 girls in my class (even though I was told that the class was full and I needed to do this now, thanks for the sales pitch, hope you got your bonus for signing me up) spoke to a few of the other girls and was told the exact same thing happened, once they made that first payment, all communication was lost, they couldn't get onto anyone. I let it go, I really wanted to study and complete this so I could start my career. Now I'm a couple of months in, realising it defiantly IS NOT as flexible as they advertise, the trainers are amazing, don't get me wrong! They are helpful, but the assessments actually have nothing to do with what I'm studying, they even agree with that but always say "well, I don't write the assessments, upstairs do and you just have to complete them" I've explained that I need to also keep my job, their response is that I'll need to take days off work for "catch up classes" (I'm not behind) but if I miss or if I am late to class, I will have to do the catch up classes. And lastly, the payments. I signed up for direct debit, the first payment never came out when it was due to come out (1st of every month)... I tried calling them a few times, but nobody could see why it wouldn't come out, they said it's the first payment and it might just take some time so give it a few days, I gave it a week and still nothing so I tried calling them again, they couldn't give me wn answer as to why again so I emailed them, I got a call back the next day and they said "don't worry, they won't take out this payment, they'll just take out the next month on the first and extend the payment plan for an extra month after my course" which I was fine with.... The next month comes around and the payment still wasn't taken out, I called them a few times again and nobody could tell me anything again... Was told the same story, wait for the next month and they'll extend the payments for another month, that's fine. So I transfer all my money into my savings and wait for the 1st of the next month. I then get a text message in the middle of the month saying they tried to take payments, if I don't make payments I won't be able to attend classes until I'm up to date... So I call them, nobody could tell me anything again... Said they will call me back and I got nothing. I wait a couple of days and get another text message around the 25th of the month, so I call them again and ask why they are trying to take payments out in the middle of the month when I was told the first.... They couldn't give me an answer and tell me that I should wait until the first of the month, I say I don't mind paying, but asked if they could just please stick to what I signed for, they tell me not to worry. The first of the month comes and again no payment is taken.... I email them again, got no reply so I just waited. I then wake up in the morning and check to find that they have now taken TRIPPLE the payment out of my account I never agreed to this, I was told that they will just extend my payment plan for a couple extra months... Sage are THE WORST at communicating with their students, they are NOT flexible, the assessments are crazy, I have answered questions and have been told to rewrite them again, I was told even though my answer is correct, it's not the same answer as what the trainers have on their cheat sheets, so I've been given the answers and told to change a couple of words so it's "my own" to be told don't worry, your answer is correct but they want everyone's to be the same but different.... What??? After signing our contracts and enrolment forms, the course was then changed, the class was a bit upset about this and had a discussion with the trainer (after all, we signed up for something else and now they were changing it) After a few of the girls complained, the trainer said she would get the manager to come to class to speak with us about the situation, when the manager came down to speak to us and we told her what we were annoyed about, she said "wait, your trainer didn't tell you? You guys don't have to do that because you already signed up, I already spoke with your trainer about that and she was supposed to tell you" NO COMMUNICATION, we should've been told before and we weren't, we were all stressed and not told anything... Anyway, I do not reccomend sage institute at all, find someone else to study with.

A marketing Institute not Training!!! – I have enrolled for Child care which I knew it is subsidise by Government Fund and shouldn't be very expensive. They didn't discuss the price and asked me to attend the office for more information and enrollment. They start with a pack and ask you to sign lots of paper (Using lots of Selling Marketing techniques) and at the end given me the price… Read more

for more than $10,000 for a diploma!!! They convince you that this money is nothing as you are going to pay during 3-5 years!!! But I knew that price should be much less. I have canceled the enrollment during the cooling off period and I found another training course for FREE, yes for FREE as long as you tick the requirements.

To refund the deposit, they said I will be refunded within 28 days but they deducted another money from my account because some cancellation paperwork wasn't communicated internally between Finance department and enrollment.

I called almost 10 days and lots of emails and finally after almost 12 days I have received my money back.

Simply don't deal with them and search a lot for the course that you want, specially if there is fund from government.