The Top 3 Childcare Centres in Camberwell, VIC (3124)

Through Road Child Care Centre is a community-run service on Through Road with 44 approved places, open 7:00am to 6:00pm on weekdays.

Its December 2023 assessment found Exceeding in all seven quality areas, as the August 2018 assessment did. No other long day care service in Camberwell is rated above the standard in a single area. The regulator last visited in June 2026; there are no conditions on the approval and no enforcement actions on record for the past two years.

The fee is $177.05 a day up to 35 months and $159.92 from 36 months, with eight inclusions listed on the register.

Through Road ranks first on its rating alone. It is the only Exceeding service among the nine in Camberwell, so criterion 1 places it above both Meeting centres before program, fees or practical fit are weighed. It also happens to charge less than either of them at every age: $177.05 a day up to 35 months and $159.92 from 36 months, against $193.00 at Inspire and $184.00 at Snugglepotts. The practical limit is size. With 44 approved places it fills quickly, and its Google figure rests on five reviews.

Inspire Early Learning Journey Camberwell is on Toorak Road, approved for 100 places and open 7:00am to 6:00pm on weekdays. Its August 2026 assessment, the first since it opened, rated all seven quality areas Meeting.

The fee is $193.00 a day at every age, with nine inclusions listed on Starting Blocks. A Montessori Australia listing gives its ages as six months to six years with an approved kindergarten program; the centre's own page was blocked when we tried to read it, so confirm both directly.

Three conditions are attached to the approval: natural elements must be incorporated and maintained in outdoor spaces; objects must not be placed where a child could climb barriers or fences, and play equipment must meet the Australian Playground Standard; and a fire safety expert must observe and report on the first emergency evacuation rehearsal. No enforcement actions are recorded.

Inspire is second. Its rating ties Snugglepotts' (two months apart at the same level), fees come out level because Snugglepotts is cheaper but lists one inclusion fewer, and capacity decides it: 100 places against 36. Against Only About Children the criteria split, fees one way and capacity the other, and parent reviews settle it, 5.0 from 39 against 4.2 from 25. It sits below Through Road on the rating. Weigh the three conditions on its approval and the fact that this is a first rating with no earlier result to compare.

Snugglepotts Children's Centre is on Glen Iris Road, approved for 36 places and open 7:00am to 6:00pm on weekdays. Its website gives three rooms: babies from three months to two years, toddlers from two to three, and a kinder room for three to five-year-olds with an integrated three and four-year-old program led by a degree-qualified teacher.

The October 2026 assessment kept the Meeting rating it received in December 2023, with every quality area at Meeting. There are no conditions on the approval and no enforcement actions in the past two years. The fee is $184.00 a day at every age with eight inclusions listed on the register, and the site mentions extra classes such as music and Chinese language.

Snugglepotts takes third on the published tie-break rather than outright. Three Meeting centres beat each other in turn: Snugglepotts beats Only About Children on reviews after a split (4.8 against 4.2, a gap of 0.6), Only About Children beats Papilio on fees and capacity, and Papilio beats Snugglepotts on reviews after a split (36 against 23). Where results go round in a circle like that, the newest rating at the same level breaks it, and Snugglepotts' October 2026 assessment is the most recent of the three. Its 36 places make it the smallest centre on this page.