Busy Bees at Mitchelton

My daughter has been in daycare since she was 14 months old, and Busy Bees is the only centre where we struggled to even finish the final two weeks’ notice period while waiting for a place at her new centre. Every morning during those last two weeks, we had to convince her to attend due to the unusually high number of incidents — all of which happened in that short time. When I enrolled her, I specifically chose this centre because of a teacher who read to the children daily and seemed to run a well-structured program. Unfortunately, that teacher left within the first month, and afterwards I noticed a constant rotation of new junior staff. It appeared they never managed to replace the original teacher, as the reading, learning, and activity programs became extremely limited and inconsistent over the next two months. Perhaps some of the disorganisation was due to ongoing staff shortages, but I could not risk my child’s physical and emotional wellbeing any longer. This was, without doubt, my worst childcare choice. The most alarming incident was when my daughter came home with a mark on her face (from two days earlier) and told me another child had pressed a coloured pencil into her cheek. This incident was never reported. When I raised it, staff seemed surprised. If this had been her eye, what explanation could they possibly have given? From the start, my only request was to follow her specific toileting routine due to previous experiences. It was followed for just one week, and only by one educator — others ignored it completely. Even more concerning, one day I picked her up at 6:00 pm and found she had a fever of 38.5°C. No one had noticed, no one informed me, and the unusually long nap she had that day wasn’t even logged in the Storypark app. When I mentioned it later, a teacher said, “I thought it was strange she slept so long and was very quiet afterwards, so she must have had a fever.” They didn’t check her temperature, didn’t record it, and didn’t follow up. I also noticed she rarely appeared in activity photos. When I asked, I was told she “runs away when we take pictures” and that “our focus is on safety” — yet from what I saw, the children were mostly in the yard without proper supervision. Another troubling situation was when my daughter picked up inappropriate words (“poo poo” and “bum bum”) from other children. For two weeks, I calmly explained at home that these weren’t polite words. Then one day, I was questioned by a teacher about why my daughter had said one to her. We speak only our native language at home, so she clearly learned them at the centre. When I explained this, the staff admitted another child had introduced the word, but said, “No other children use it anymore, just your daughter.” The very next day, my daughter came home crying, saying that same child had called her the word and told her she was rude. In my three months at Busy Bees, there were multiple red flags — excessive incidents (biting, scratching, hitting), poor activity structure, and inadequate supervision. Having previously spent two and a half years at a centre on the Gold Coast and now moved to a third centre in Brisbane, I can confidently say the lack of structured activities, poor supervision, and high number of incidents at Busy Bees fall well below acceptable standards. Initially, I wondered if I was overreacting, but after experiencing other centres, it is clear these issues are unique to Busy Bees. I regret staying the full three months just to avoid stressing my daughter with another move. I’m relieved nothing more serious happened, but I would never recommend this centre to any parent.