The Top 3 Childcare Centres in Essendon, VIC (3040)

Explorers Early Learning - Essendon at 30-32 Lincoln Road holds an Exceeding NQS rating issued May 2025, its first NQS assessment since the service was approved in August 2022. Four of seven quality areas are rated Exceeding NQS: Educational program and practice (QA1), Physical environment (QA3), Relationships with children (QA5), and Collaborative partnerships with families and communities (QA6). The remaining three, Children's health and safety (QA2), Staffing arrangements (QA4), and Governance and leadership (QA7), are rated Meeting NQS. The centre was last visited by the regulatory authority in July 2025. There are zero enforcement actions in the past two years.

Explorers Early Learning is operated by JML Trading Essendon, a single-centre operator, not a large provider chain. With 140 approved places, it is the largest centre in the top 3. Note: Starting Blocks shows conditions on approval relating to playground equipment and barrier/fence safety standards, a standard condition seen across multiple services in the 3040 postcode.

Explorers charges $196.00 per day for every age group, and Starting Blocks lists more inclusions against its rate than against either other ranked centre. Hours are 6:30am to 6:30pm Monday to Friday.

Explorers Early Learning ranks first. It and Villa Bambini both hold Exceeding, assessed ten months apart (May 2025 and March 2026), so the rating ties them and program, fees and practical fit decide. Explorers wins two of the three: fees and inclusions, at $196.00 a day against $207.00 with nine inclusions listed against eight, and practical fit, with 140 approved places against 100. Four of its seven quality areas are rated Exceeding. This is the centre's first NQS rating, so there is no earlier result to compare.

Villa Bambini at 16 Bulla Road holds an Exceeding NQS rating issued March 2026, its third consecutive Exceeding rating, following Exceeding in October 2022 and August 2017. All three assessments were conducted under the same provider, making this a genuine sustained Exceeding record. Four of seven quality areas are rated Exceeding NQS: Educational program and practice (QA1), Relationships with children (QA5), Collaborative partnerships with families and communities (QA6), and Governance and leadership (QA7). The remaining three, Children's health and safety (QA2), Physical environment (QA3) and Staffing arrangements (QA4), are rated Meeting NQS. The centre was last visited by the regulatory authority in February 2026. There are zero enforcement actions in the past two years.

Villa Bambini is operated by a boutique family-owned operator, not a large provider chain. The centre has been operating at 16 Bulla Road since June 2016. With 100 approved places, it is one of the larger centres in the top 3. Note: Starting Blocks shows conditions on approval, an emergency evacuation rehearsal requirement from the 2016 startup period, likely long fulfilled but still on record.

Villa Bambini publishes $207.00 a day on Starting Blocks, the same at every age. Ask the centre directly what the fee includes. Hours are 7:00am to 6:30pm Monday to Friday.

Villa Bambini ranks second. It holds Exceeding NQS from March 2026, with 4 of 7 quality areas above the standard, and has held Exceeding across three assessments (August 2017, October 2022 and March 2026). That record is worth knowing, but it is not what orders this page: Villa and Explorers were assessed ten months apart, which ties them on the rating, and Explorers then wins on fees and inclusions ($196.00 against $207.00, nine inclusions against eight) and on capacity (140 places against 100). A February 2026 regulatory visit recorded zero enforcement actions. Its $207.00 daily rate, unchanged across the age bands, is the highest of the three.

Community Children - Essendon is on Cooper Street and is open from 6:00am to 7:00pm on weekdays, the longest opening day of any centre ranked on this page. Starting Blocks lists full-day rates for every age band from birth to preschool, $154.00 a day for each, with eight inclusions recorded against that rate.

Its April 2026 assessment returned Meeting National Quality Standard across all seven quality areas. That is a downgrade: the service held Exceeding from December 2022. A regulatory visit in February 2026 recorded no enforcement actions in the preceding two years, and the one condition on its approval is the standard playground-barrier and equipment clause that appears across many unrelated services.

Earlier versions of this page listed the centre with an unverified rating, because its Starting Blocks record could not be retrieved in March 2026. It was read in full on 22 October 2026, and the figures here come from that read.

Community Children Essendon ranks third. Its April 2026 Meeting rating ties it with Montgomery Park, reassessed Meeting in September 2026, and with Starfish, rated Meeting in January 2026: all three sit within twelve months of each other, so program, fees and practical fit decide. It wins fees and practical fit against both, at $154.00 a day for every age with eight inclusions listed, against Montgomery Park's $182.00 ($175.00 from 36 months) and Starfish's $172.00, and with a 6:00am to 7:00pm day where the others open at 7:00am or later and close by 6:00pm. Note the direction of travel: April 2026 was a step down from the Exceeding rating it held from December 2022. It holds 4.2 on Google from 9 reviews.