Perth parents push for change after fighting school’s plan to hire childcare provider with ‘history of fines’
Parents who successfully lobbied to stop the appointment of a new childcare provider at a primary school in Perth’s northern suburbs with “longstanding non-compliance issues” want the state’s education department to do more to examine companies’ history of breaches.
Tuart Hill Primary School recently advised parents to switch from their current service provider to Junior Adventures Group, part of OSHClub, one of Australia’s largest providers of before and after school care.
But parents were quick to point out OSHClub’s history of fines; These include a $33,000 fine handed down by the WA State Administrative Tribunal in February after failing to notice that a five-year-old boy living with autism was missing from a school south of Perth in 2025.
An OSHClub spokesperson said the company conducted a comprehensive investigation following this incident, including site risk assessments and an internal review of regulatory reporting processes.
“Immediate action is taken where necessary and recent changes include internal reporting upgrade timelines and additional staff training,” they said.
But this was not the first breach at the company’s WA operations, which has seen similar incidents including fines of $22,000 in 2024 and $20,000 in 2023.
Numerous compliance notices were also distributed to OSHClub through the WA Training and Care Regulatory Unit, including several from December 2025 regarding inadequate supervision.
Tuart Hill Primary School parent Isobel Wallace said the decision to switch providers was made following an expression of interest process in October 2025, but was only announced to the school community in the last two months.
At the time, Wallace and about 60 parents banded together to pressure the school and the WA Department of Education to withdraw the decision after being told the change was made to save school money.
“Parents were outraged that the school board removed the current provider, Mulberry Tree, so that the school could reap financial gain from the new provider, which had long-standing non-compliance issues,” he said.
“This decision was made without informing or consulting the parents who use the service. The school is right next to the boys’ road and it is worrying that our children’s safety is being compromised in this way.”
Another school parent, Dan Whitehead, said they were invited to a meeting with a representative from OSHClub, who he claimed was “trying to shut us down” when concerns were raised.
“We asked for reassurance and this would have been the perfect opportunity for them to take responsibility for past mistakes and reassure us that changes were being made, but they made no effort to do so,” he said.
“That’s when we, as parents, decided to take the fight even further. I have a six-year-old daughter and my only job in life is to keep her safe.”
Following weeks of stand-down, Wallace said parents were told their primary provider would remain at the school for the next six years after the Regulator ruled OSHClub could not operate in the area.
“Before ECRU came into play, it was the Department’s intention to continue to use OSHClub as a provider, aware of their history,” Wallace said.
But an OSHClub spokesman said the company rejected the contract at Tuart Hill “when it became clear that families had a strong relationship with their existing provider”.
The spokesperson said OSHClub was committed to “providing a safe, supportive and caring environment for the children in our care and their families.”
“OSHClub will always put the welfare of children and families first. OSHClub evaluates all contracts based on school community and family harmony, availability of qualified workforce and appropriate safe work spaces,” they said.
‘Too much bureaucracy’ claim worries parents
After attending a meeting at the department’s regional office in early April, Wallace said he was told that requests to implement a policy to include child safety questions in future interest declaration processes would require “too much red tape.”
“Department representatives… have repeatedly stated that it is not the Department for Education’s responsibility to ask about breaches of the Education and Care Services National (WA) Act, instead deflecting responsibility to the department. [the Education and Care Regulatory Unit]he said.
“However, ECRU only comes into play after contractual agreements between the Ministry and service providers are signed.
“This means that the Department had full capacity to impose child safety requirements at the procurement stage but chose not to do so.”
Parents were advised to set a reminder on their phones to report the matter to the school principal again in six years when the next EOI cycle begins.
“We were also told that the Department will not publicly disclose EOI processes and plans to shorten the notice period provided to families when changing service providers due to recent community outcry,” Wallace said.
“This approach prioritizes minimizing pressure on staff rather than acknowledging the serious stress these decisions place on children and the wider school community.”
A state government spokesman said Tuart Hill Primary School followed the ministry’s guidance, which advised schools to carry out an expression of interest process to “test the market and ensure value for money and quality service”.
“Following the outcome of the EOI process, the selected service provider must submit a request for service approval to the Department for Communities Education and Care Regulatory Unit,” they said.
“Current provider Mulberry Tree will continue to operate at the primary school.”
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Holly Thompson is a journalist at WAtoday specializing in education and the environment.Connect with: X or email.
