“It hasn’t been a good experience at all,” the mother said.
“There were about five different kinder teachers in one year.”
With three children, one older than her daughter who was attending Small Friends until its shock temporary closure, and having lived in multiple towns, the mother has experiences with other centres to compare it to.
“It was no shock to me that it closed, something was not right,” she said.
When she went to collect her daughter’s belongings from the centre, including the portfolio of her daughter’s work that contained her drawings and other art, they were missing.
She said she was told all portfolios were online, despite having already seen the physical portfolio with her own eyes earlier in the year.
“Nobody could tell me where they’ve gone,” the mother said.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like we’re going to look back at the portfolio with fond memories of that centre.”
She said the closure hadn’t been as detrimental to her family’s routine as it might have been, given she’s currently at home with a baby.
However, she empathised with other parents who’d had to make emergency arrangements for alternative care to minimise disruption to their employment and other commitments.
Her daughter attended the centre for two days a week.
It was her first and only year of kindergarten before she goes to primary school next year, and with this incident taking place two to three weeks before the end of Term 4, she will also miss out on her pre-school graduation.
“We hadn’t been advised of any arrangements for graduation, so I don’t think anything had been organised,” the mother said.
The centre reopened on Friday, December 6, with a new centre manager in position.
Financial disputes between the business and property owners are ongoing.
