{"id":868768,"date":"2026-08-26T07:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T07:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868768\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T07:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T07:10:13","slug":"edge-early-learning-enters-voluntary-administration-but-all-centres-continuing-to-operate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868768\/","title":{"rendered":"Edge Early Learning enters voluntary administration but all centres continuing to operate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Embattled childcare provider Edge Early Learning, which has centres in the ACT, Queensland and South Australia, has gone into voluntary administration.<\/p>\n

In a statement on its website, Edge said it had appointed KordaMentha as administrators on Tuesday but that centres were continuing to operate normally.<\/p>\n

“We understand that this may be a confusing and stressful development for families who rely upon Edge Early Learning to provide care for their children,” it said.<\/p>\n

In a statement from KordaMentha, the administrators said they were working with the company’s management and staff “to support the continued operation of the business”.<\/p>\n

“Families should continue to attend their centres as usual while the voluntary administrators undertake an urgent assessment of operations,” it said.\"The<\/p>\n

The Edge Early Learning centre in South Brisbane. (ABC News: Steve Kelly)<\/p>\n

Edge Early Learning opened its first childcare centres in Queensland in 2017, bought 17 existing childcare centres in South Australia in 2022 and now runs 24 in the state, both in Adelaide and regional areas.<\/p>\n

The company’s website lists 68 Australian centres in total \u2014 including two in the ACT \u2014 and Edge said it was continuing to operate all “on a business-as-usual basis”.<\/p>\n

“There will be no change to your care arrangements, centre opening hours or staffing. Families should continue to attend their centre as normal,” it told parents.<\/p>\n

Canberra childcare centre ordered to close<\/a><\/p>\n

A Canberra mother had concerns for her daughter’s safety at Edge Early Learning in Higgins long before the ACT regulator ordered the centre to close.<\/p>\n

“We are working with management and will be supporting centre staff to minimise any disruption.<\/p>\n

“Our immediate focus is to maintain the safe and ongoing operation of each centre while this urgent review is undertaken.”<\/p>\n

In its statement, it said administrators had been appointed to “review the business and work with key stakeholders to determine the best path forward”, and that the process would allow the company “to assess its financial position and consider options for its future”.<\/p>\n

Centre closures earlier this year<\/p>\n

The development comes after a series of controversies involving Edge, including in Canberra where a childcare centre was suddenly closed and a staff member terminated over a failure to respond to a serious medical incident involving a child<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last week, the ACT childcare regulator also issued a three-month suspension ordering one of Edge\u2019s two remaining centres \u2013 located in Charnwood \u2013 to close its doors from September 3. It is not yet known why the suspension was issued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, the regulator Children’s Education and Care Assurance, said “Edge has the right to appeal the decision and is legally required to communicate the suspension to families”, and “Under administration, the administrator can also exercise the right to appeal”.<\/p>\n

In July, Edge’s Gawler East centre north of Adelaide was forced to close for a second time this year after a child was served food with an allergen the centre knew about<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In April, South Australia’s Education Standards Board (ESB) directed the Edge Early Learning centre in Munno Para West to close<\/a> after seven incidents of children being left unsupervised.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Edge Early Learning centre in the ACT that was forced to close suddenly in July. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

SA Education Minister Lucy Hood said the Munno Para West and Gawler East sites remained shut, and that Elizabeth Park was also closed.<\/p>\n

“Edge has had its challenges in regards to compliance, and there are currently three services that are not currently operating,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There are 24 Edge services across South Australia, with 21 active.<\/p>\n

“Currently we do have a variety of services \u2014 I believe around 12 \u2014 that have various compliance actions on them.”<\/p>\n

Ms Hood said Edge contacted the ESB earlier today to inform them of the fact that they had entered administration.<\/p>\n

“My understanding is it’s around 2,200 families that are impacted,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s reassuring to know that it is business-as-usual, but if any families have any questions I’d encourage them to contact the director of their centre.”<\/p>\n

Edge said the voluntary administration process would occur over several weeks while the administrators “review the business and engage with stakeholders”.<\/p>\n

Families, workers face uncertainty<\/p>\n

Tegan Gilchrist from parent advocacy organisation The Parenthood said the federal government should establish a national early learning commission “with oversight of provider growth, financial viability and quality”.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is another warning that we cannot continue treating early learning as a collection of private businesses and simply hope the market delivers a stable, safe and accessible system,” she said.<\/p>\n

SA opposition education spokesperson Heidi Girolamo said the development today was “concerning” and created “uncertainty” for thousands of families and Edge staff members.<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

Heidi Girolamo calls on the government to support affected families. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“For many families, they’ll be asking the question: why has it got to this and why has it ended up happening with these centres in limbo?” she said.<\/p>\n

“That’s when the government needs to step up and to show that support. I appreciate that they are privately run, but child care is an absolute essential service for many families.”<\/p>\n

The United Workers Union (UWU) said it would support Edge employees affected by the administration.<\/p>\n

“These are dedicated, hardworking people who have shown up every day to care for children and families,” UWU’s Carolyn Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United Workers Union is calling on the administrators to ensure affected workers receive their full entitlements during the administration and that no family is left without access to childcare.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Embattled childcare provider Edge Early Learning, which has centres in the ACT, Queensland and South Australia, has gone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[108615,1906,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-868768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-early-learning","tag-edge","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}