Choosing childcare in Point Cook? 10 questions to ask on your tour
Most families tour two or three early learning centres before they choose one. Tours are short, and it is easy to walk out having seen the sandpit and the nappy change area and not much else. These are the questions we would ask at any centre in Point Cook or Williams Landing, including ours at 40a Wallace Avenue.
Questions about quality and safety
1. What is your National Quality Standard rating?
Every approved service in Australia is rated against the National Quality Standard, which covers seven quality areas from the educational program through to governance and leadership. The rating certificate has to be on display at the centre, and you can look up any service on Starting Blocks before you visit. A newer centre may show Provisional, Not Yet Assessed, which means it has met the basic safety and compliance requirements and is waiting on its first assessment.
2. How many educators are in each room, and how long have they been here?
Ratios are set by law. In Victoria it is one educator to four children under three, and one educator to eleven children from three years to preschool age (you can check the current figures on the ACECQA ratios page). The more useful question is how long the educators in your child’s room have been there. Babies and toddlers settle faster when the same faces greet them each morning, so ask whether your child will have a primary educator who gets to know their routines.
3. What happens if my child is unwell or has an accident?
Ask how you will be contacted, how long a child needs to stay home after a temperature or a stomach bug, and who on the floor holds a current first aid certificate. A good centre will hand you its illness and incident policies without any fuss. Ours are on the policies and procedures page.
Questions about the day
4. What does a normal day look like in my child’s room?
Ask the educator in the room, not just the person giving the tour. You want to hear when children eat and sleep, how much time they spend outside, and how a baby’s own sleep and feed times fit around the group. If you can, tour mid-morning when the room is busy. You learn more from ten minutes of watching than from a brochure.
5. Are meals cooked here, and what’s on the menu?
Some centres cook on site and some ask families to pack lunch every day. At Creative Hands Point Cook a chef prepares breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and a late snack, and meals are included in the daily fee. Ask to see a menu, and if your child has an allergy or eats halal or vegetarian, ask exactly how the kitchen manages it. You can read more about our approach to nutrition.
6. What do I need to bring?
This one sounds small but it adds up over a year. Some centres supply nappies, wipes, sunscreen and bedding, and others don’t. At our Point Cook centre nappies and wipes are supplied for the younger age groups, and families get a room checklist at orientation.
7. How will I know how my child’s day went?
Ask what the centre shares with families and how often. At Creative Hands families get photos, sleep and meal records and learning stories through a secure app, and educators still make time for a chat at pick up. For a lot of parents that message at 11am saying their baby ate lunch and went down for a sleep is what gets them through the first few weeks back at work.
Questions about kinder and starting school
8. Do you run a funded kindergarten program, and who teaches it?
In Victoria, children can do funded three and four year old kinder at a long day care centre, so there is no need to juggle a separate sessional kinder around work. Ask whether the program is led by a degree qualified early childhood teacher, how many hours a week it runs, and how Free Kinder is applied to your account. At Creative Hands Point Cook the kindergarten program runs inside long day care hours and is led by a degree qualified early childhood teacher.
Questions about fees and enrolment
9. What will I actually pay once the subsidy is applied?
Daily fees are hard to compare unless you know what is included. Ask whether meals, nappies and excursions are part of the fee, and ask the centre to talk you through how the Child Care Subsidy applies. Since January 2026 the 3 Day Guarantee means most families are eligible for at least 72 hours of subsidised care a fortnight, whatever their work hours.
10. How flexible are bookings?
Ask whether you can add a casual day, swap days when your roster changes, or move from two days to three later in the year. At our Point Cook centre families can book permanent days, add extra casual days and request a change of days, subject to availability.
Take this list with you, write the answers down, and compare them on the drive home. If you would like to ask us these questions in person, you can book a tour of Creative Hands Point Cook, and our guide to settling in covers what happens after you enrol.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check a childcare centre’s quality rating in Point Cook?
Every approved service is rated against the National Quality Standard. The rating certificate must be displayed at the centre, and you can search any service on the Starting Blocks website before you visit.
What are the educator to child ratios in Victoria?
In Victorian centre based care the ratio is one educator to four children under three years, and one educator to eleven children from three years to preschool age.
Can my child do funded kinder at a long day care centre in Point Cook?
Yes. Creative Hands Point Cook runs a Victorian Government funded three and four year old kindergarten program inside long day care hours, led by a degree qualified early childhood teacher.
