The Top 3 Childcare Centres in Berwick, VIC (3806)

Hippity Hop Early Learning Berwick at 56a Harkaway Road holds an Exceeding NQS rating, the highest rating achievable through standard assessment (above Exceeding is the rarely awarded Excellent rating, held by fewer than 1% of services), issued October 2023 by Starting Blocks (ACECQA). The centre is family owned and operated with over 20 years of early childhood experience across the Hippity Hop group, which operates four centres across Melbourne.

With 74 licensed places, Hippity Hop Berwick is an intentionally mid-sized centre, large enough to offer a rich community environment, small enough to ensure every child is genuinely known. The centre is set on Harkaway Road, with generous indoor and outdoor spaces designed around the Reggio Emilia approach.

The Reggio Emilia philosophy underpins everything at Hippity Hop, a child-centred approach that treats the environment as the third teacher, encouraging curiosity, exploration and respect. Indoor spaces are designed to be welcoming and familiar, with open-ended resources that inspire children to follow their interests. Outdoor areas provide room for physical development, imaginative play and connection with the natural world.

Fresh meals are prepared on-site daily, with all food intolerances and allergies carefully accommodated. The daily fee of $170.00 includes afternoon tea, breakfast, education programs, excursions and incursions, lunch, morning tea and nappies, confirmed by Starting Blocks. The centre website also states sunscreen, milk and individual linens are provided: confirm the full inclusions directly with the centre. Families stay connected through regular updates and the centre's communication channels.

The service carries two conditions on its approval, and both are specific to this site rather than the boilerplate playground clauses that appear across dozens of unrelated services. There is a swimming pool on the property. The provider must ensure that children at the service cannot access the fenced pool area and do not use the pool, and that no outdoor play equipment sits within 1.9 metres of the pool fencing. Neither condition follows an incident, and no enforcement action has been recorded in the past two years; they are controls attached to a feature of the site. A family touring here should ask to see the pool fencing and how the rule is supervised in practice.

The 3 and 4-year-old kindergarten program is integrated within long day care hours, with qualified educators delivering a play-based program focused on school readiness, social development and early literacy and numeracy. The July 2024 regulatory visit recorded zero enforcement actions.

Hippity Hop Early Learning Berwick ranks first in this guide, and on the assessed record it is not close: it is the only one of the three above the national standard, holding Exceeding across four of seven quality areas where the other two manage one and none. It is also the cheapest of the three at $170.00. The one factor running the other way is the only one on this page: it is the sole ranked centre carrying conditions on its service approval, two of them, both concerning a swimming pool on the site. They are set out in full below, neither follows an incident, and no enforcement action has been recorded in two years — but a family should read them and ask how the pool area is supervised. Contact the centre directly to confirm current vacancy status.

Goodstart Early Learning Berwick at 1-5 Cheviot Avenue is part of a not-for-profit early learning provider operating 676 services nationally. The centre holds a confirmed Meeting NQS rating across all quality areas per the ACECQA national register, and sits at 4.5 on Google over 12 reviews.

The centre is led by Skye-Lee Dexter, Centre Director, who has spent her entire 14-year early childhood career at Goodstart. Skye-Lee holds a Diploma in Children's Services and is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Early Childhood Education. She has worked across every level of the centre, including Lead Educator, Educational Leader and Assistant Director, before becoming Centre Director.

The outdoor environment features multiple play spaces with a balance of natural and manmade surfaces, including a sandpit, herb and veggie garden, mud kitchen and dry creek bed, plus ample shade. Nursery children go on regular community walks using the centre's prams. Indoor rooms are light-filled and spacious, designed around the developmental needs of each age group. Activities and resources include art, music, sensory play and regular community walks.

Programs are built around the Early Years Learning Framework, with University-qualified teachers delivering the Victorian Government-funded kindergarten program for eligible 3 and 4-year-olds, integrated within long day care hours. Meals, nappies and bottles are supplied. Families stay connected through Storypark, regular family nights and emailed newsletters. As a not-for-profit, Goodstart reinvests any surplus directly into programs and environments.

Goodstart Early Learning Berwick is the second-choice recommendation for postcode 3806. A confirmed Meeting NQS, 4.5 on Google from 12 reviews, a Centre Director with 14 years of unbroken Goodstart experience, University-qualified kinder teachers, a rich outdoor environment with veggie garden and mud kitchen, and the backing of a national not-for-profit provider make it a well-rounded, dependable choice. At $176.82 a day it is the dearest of the three ranked centres. Contact the centre on 1800 222 543 to confirm availability.

Berwick Twinkle Star Early Learning Centre at 10-12 Warrawong Drive has been serving the Berwick community since July 2015, over a decade of long day care in postcode 3806. It holds a Meeting NQS rating issued June 2023, confirmed by Starting Blocks, and was visited by the regulatory authority in March 2025 with zero conditions, the most recent published compliance clearance of the ranked centres.

The centre's educational philosophy is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, celebrating what the centre describes as "the hundred languages of children" by providing an environment that fosters exploration, creativity and discovery through art, science, play and nature. Programs empower children to express themselves and develop a lifelong love of learning.

With 60 licensed places, Berwick Twinkle Star is a smaller centre by Berwick standards, where educators have the capacity to know every child and family individually. The centre offers 3 and 4-year-old kinder programs with government funding, delivered by experienced kinder teachers focused on curiosity, creativity and school readiness.

The daily fee of $175.00 includes the most comprehensive Starting Blocks-confirmed inclusions package of any centre on this list: afternoon tea, breakfast, education programs, excursions and incursions, lunch, morning tea, nappies, other meals and transport. It offers transport as an included service, a genuine practical advantage. Current vacancies are confirmed by Starting Blocks.

Berwick Twinkle Star Early Learning Centre ranks third in this guide. A Meeting NQS issued June 2023, the most recent published regulatory clearance of the ranked centres (March 2025, zero conditions), the longest inclusions list of the three on the register at 9 items, though the register does not itemise them, a Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum, 4.7 on Google from 78 reviews, the deepest review base of the three, and current vacancies make it a solid, accessible choice.