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

Through Road Child Care Centre operates from Through Road with 44 approved places, the smallest of the three ranked centres by a wide margin. It is community-run rather than part of a group operator, and opens 7:00am to 6:00pm on weekdays.

Its December 2023 assessment returned Exceeding in all seven quality areas, and the assessment before it, in August 2018, also returned Exceeding — more than seven years of unbroken Exceeding across two consecutive assessments. No other centre in Camberwell is above the standard in a single quality area. A regulatory visit in June 2026 found no conditions on the service approval and no enforcement actions in the preceding two years.

Through Road is first on quality and first on price at the same time, which almost never happens and is worth pausing on. It is the only centre in Camberwell rated above the national standard in any quality area, and it holds that result in all seven — and it charges $168.62 a day, roughly $30 less than the two Meeting-rated centres ranked below it, with the same eight inclusions as one of them. It has also held Exceeding since 2018, so this is a settled result rather than a recent upgrade. The reservations are practical rather than about quality. At 44 approved places it is a third the size of Only About Children, which means fewer rooms, fewer places and a longer wait. It closes at 6:00pm, half an hour before the two below it, which will rule it out for some commutes. If those fit your week, there is no argument on the evidence for paying $30 more a day elsewhere in this suburb.

Only About Children Camberwell operates from Toorak Road with 136 approved places, three times the size of the top-ranked centre and the largest on this page. It opens 7:00am to 6:30pm on weekdays, the latest close of the three.

Its June 2026 assessment returned Meeting across all seven quality areas — the newest rating in the locality — repeating the Meeting result from October 2022. The service carries two conditions on its approval: one requiring outdoor play equipment to sit no closer than 1.9 metres to the perimeter fencing, and one requiring arrangements within three months of approval for a regional officer to attend a rehearsal of the emergency and evacuation procedures. The first appears on ten services under ten unrelated providers; the second sets a schedule for routine practice. Neither follows an incident, and a July 2026 regulatory visit recorded no enforcement actions in the preceding two years.

Only About Children Camberwell is second, and the case for it is about capacity and hours rather than quality. It matches the top-ranked centre inclusion for inclusion — every meal, nappies, education programs and excursions — but charges $30.88 a day more for a Meeting rating against an Exceeding one held in all seven quality areas. On the evidence that is a straightforward loss. What it offers instead is scale and a longer day: 136 places against 44, and a 6:30pm close against 6:00pm. For a family who cannot make a six o’clock pickup, or who needs a place this term rather than next year, those are the terms on which this centre wins and the rating does not settle it. Its June 2026 assessment is also the most recent in the suburb. Its two conditions are both class-applied — a fencing setback shared with nine other services, and a scheduled evacuation rehearsal — and neither should count against it.

Papilio Early Learning Camberwell operates from Warrigal Road with 98 approved places, and runs 6:30am to 6:30pm on weekdays — twelve hours, the longest day of any centre ranked here and half an hour wider at each end than the top-ranked service.

Its October 2025 assessment returned Meeting across all seven quality areas, repeating the Meeting result from November 2022. A regulatory visit in September 2025 found no conditions on the service approval and no enforcement actions in the preceding two years. The register lists a single inclusion against its daily rate: education programs.

Papilio places third on a rating it shares with the centre above it, and the thing that separates them on this page is what the fee covers. It charges $197.70 where Only About Children charges $199.50 — $1.80 less — but the register lists one inclusion against that rate where the others list eight. If that reflects what is actually offered, a family here buys every meal and all nappies on top of a fee that is already among the highest in the suburb, which would make it the most expensive day in Camberwell by a distance rather than the second cheapest of the three. That is a large enough difference to warrant a direct question before comparing it with anything, because a sparse register field is not the same as a confirmed absence. What Papilio does clearly offer is the longest day in the locality, 6:30am to 6:30pm, which no other ranked centre here matches — and for a family whose commute needs both ends of that, it may be the only workable option on this page.