The child was located by members of the public walking alone on Wellard Road and taken to the Kwinana Police Station where his parents were contacted.
The Department of Communities’ Education and Care Regulation Unit (ECRU) referred the matter to the SAT.
On 6 September 2022, the SAT found that Extend (Australia) Pty Ltd, trading as Peter Carnley Anglican School Wellard OSHC, breached the Education and Care Service National Law (WA) Act for an offence involving inadequate supervision and imposed a penalty of $12,000 and $2,000 costs.
An investigation by ECRU established that, in December 2021, a male child aged four years left the service and began walking home along Wellard Road. There was no dedicated system in place to ensure that the door to the service was either locked or monitored by an educator to see that no child left unsupervised.
The service was alerted to the child being missing by another child in care. The service contacted the WA Police Force and shortly after this, the service was advised the child had been taken to the local Police Station.
The child was unsupervised by the service for approximately 23 minutes.
Quotes from Phil Payne, Acting Executive Director Regulation and Quality, Department of Communities
“This is the fifth occasion this year where the Department has sought disciplinary action in the SAT against an approved service provider, where children have left a service unsupervised.
“Inadequate supervision has been found to be a factor in all of them.
“Childcare services need to provide appropriate levels of supervision and conduct and record regular and accurate headcounts.
“The investigation revealed that the child had indicated he wanted to go home after an incident at the service, the staff tried to reassure him, but he still left. Educators should not ignore early warning signs from children.
“Childcare services, regardless of whether they are out of school hours or long day care services, need to have adequate facilities and measures in place to prevent children from leaving the service.”
Media contact: Steve Worner 0418 918 299
