Leaps & Bounds Preschool Pty Ltd was ordered to pay $15,000 plus $1,000 towards legal costs by the State Administrative Tribunal for contravention of section 165(1) of the Education and Care Service National Law (WA) Act 2012, for an offence relating to the inadequate supervision of a child.
A Department of Communities investigation found that in March 2023, the four-year-old child was left inadequately supervised whilst being cared for by Leaps & Bounds Capel OSHC, and left the care of the service and was unattended for over 20 minutes.
Fortunately, the child was located approximately 200 metres away from the service and returned to the provider’s care unharmed, despite having crossed a road without supervision.
Quotes from Angelo Barbaro, A/Executive Director, Regulation and Quality, Department of Communities:
“Inadequate supervision within the education and care services sector is a significant concern of the Department of Communities.
“Despite Department of Communities Education and Care Regulatory Unit providing information to the sector regarding the importance of active supervision, we continue to see cases where inadequate supervision has put children at risk.
“It is unacceptable that a young child was able to leave the premises of a service without supervision and is it very fortunate that on this occasion the child was unharmed.
“Approved providers of early education and care services must uphold the very highest standards of care and supervision, to ensure child safety and wellbeing is not compromised”.
