Community Kids Annerley Abruptly Announces Closure

Citing the end of their lease, Community Kids Annerley gave parents a two-week notice of its closure, sending mums and dads scrambling to look for alternatives from facilities that have been booked out months or years in advance.

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The childcare centre announced on its official site that it will be “closing its door permanently on 15 July 2022.” The facility has also sent parents the notice of its impending closure, citing the end of its lease.

Community Kids Annerley has around 80 to 100 children, between the ages of six months to 5 years old, under their care. The facility, which has been open for 25 years and managed by Gold Coast-based G8 Education Centres, has recommended The Learning Sanctuary Yeronga, The Learning Sanctuary Tarragindi, and The Learning Sanctuary Camp Hill as alternatives.

Parents, however, want more answers as they have paid fees in advance. They also want to know why they were advised just two weeks if the centre had known its lease was ending months earlier. 

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Many of the parents are healthcare workers who now need to take a time off to look for new childcare centres. They regret losing Community Kids Annerley because its workers have been attentive to their children. 

“We have contacted other local daycares who are full. We are stressed and heartbroken. We are working families and if we cannot find our children an alternative. We have no idea what we are going to do,” the parents wrote in the petition on Change.Org.  

“The daycare has been part of the community for more than 25 years and is a safe and fun place for our children. The daycare holds a special place in our hearts and in the community. We have been told that despite numerous efforts from the daycare the landlord would not renew the lease. We are also devastated for the educators who we consider to be part of our community. We are angry at G8 for poorly managing this situation.”

A spokesperson for G8 Education Centres, said that they had been negotiating the lease and were hoping to continue operating. However, after failing to forge a new agreement with the landlords, the centre immediately notified the families. 

G8 Education Centres is one of Australia’s biggest childcare providers. In April, the company said that its earnings were affected by COVID and the February 2022 flooding.