Fine for day care centre

A Bunbury day care centre has been fined $10,000 after a toddler left the centre and walked home unnoticed.

The State Administrative Tribunal last month ruled the Goodstart Early Learning Centre in East Bunbury had failed to ensure all children being cared for by the service were adequately supervised.

About 3.30pm on September 27 a three-year-old child left the centre and walked about 150m down the road, where the mother was on the front lawn of the home.

Centre staff only became aware of the child’s absence when the mother walked the child back to the service about 15 minutes later.

A Goodstart spokeswoman said the centre’s supervision policies were immediately amended and communicated to all staff.

“Safety is our number one priority,” the spokeswoman said.

“Following the incident at our Bunbury centre a full investigation of the outdoor environment was carried out and additional safety measures implemented.

“These included a new perimeter fence with an increased height of 1.8m and the relocation of other outdoor equipment.”

Staff now conduct weekly reviews of the outdoor area.