I had my 3 children attend Pakenham Early Education Centre for one year, and I was not very impressed.
I noticed a lot of disorganisation within the office. There was very often problems or mistakes with the statements and invoicing. And I noticed a lot of other parents also experiencing similar issues, so it clearly wasn't just in my case.
I was very disappointed with the high turnover of staff at PEEC. My eldest daughter went through 3 kinder teachers in one year. This was especially hard on her as she is extremely shy and found it hard to adjust to simply one new teacher!
I also found that the pre-kinder room was not run overly well. The children often appeared bored and unstimulated. My pre-kinder children would only attend for half days at a time and would still complain that there is not much to do. The teacher and assistant would often put out the same tasks day after day. The kids quickly bored of this. Or they would make up a "drawing table" with no paper to draw on or blunt pencils that the children can't even draw with! For some children this wouldn't be an issue. But for shy children this is a real problem because they don't feel confident enough to go and ask the teacher for paper or for pencils that actually work!
The other thing I noticed, that I wasn't overly impressed with, was the kids would be forced to play outside even if they didn't want to. Although there was enough staff to have staff inside AND outside, they would force all the children outside so that the teacher in charge could stay inside and do paperwork or clean up. I understand that this needs to happen, but not for extended periods at a time. I'm talking about days of 30 degree heat, or days of 11 degree coldness. The kids should be made to play outside for a small amount of time, but if it's very hot or very cold they really should have the option of coming inside to play.
I also often noticed children outside with no jacket or long sleeve top on, yet it was freezing outside. Or kids outside with jumpers on when it's boiling hot outside. What I noticed on a large scale at PEEC was pure LAZINESS. I really think a 15 yr old babysitter could do a better job that what they had done at PEEC.
I would also often see groups of staff members standing around gossiping amongst themselves out in the foyer/reception area, whilst one teacher is left in each room to do all the work.
And the children's toilets were often disgusting. There are 5 separate cubicles in the childrens' toilets and more often than not would all of them, or at least 4 of them, be filled with unflushed urine and poo. There was often sand and [paint and soggy paper or soggy toilet paper left in the trough where the kids are meant to wash their hands.
I was really unimpressed with PEEC, and would NEVER recommend anyone to send their child there. It was like a centre of really bad babysitting. Not much stimulation for the kids. Barely any teaching or learning taking place. And a whole lot of laziness amongst the staff.
ALTHOUGH, I must say that when my children finished at PEEC, the centre was on the process of being taken over by new owners. So hopefully there have been a whole heap of changes made since then (almost 1 yr ago now).