The Top 3 Childcare Centres in Hawthorn, VIC (3122)

Hawthorn Early Years operates from Glenferrie Road with 155 approved places, the largest of the four long day care services in the locality. It has held its service approval since January 2012 and runs 7:30am to 6:00pm on weekdays. It is run by a not-for-profit incorporated association rather than by a company.

Its educational approach is grounded in the Early Years Learning Framework, with child-led, play-based inquiry and an outdoor program that uses the site's grounds as a teaching space rather than a break from one.

The October 2025 assessment returned Exceeding in all seven quality areas, repeating the September 2022 result. Two consecutive assessments at that level, three years apart, is a different kind of evidence from a single strong year.

The register publishes no daily rate and no inclusions list for this service — a complete fee record whose only populated field is a link to the centre's own fees page. Nothing can be said here about what a day costs or what it covers without asking the centre. Its parent-review record on Google stands at 3.3 from 13 reviews, captured 1 August 2026 — the smallest review base of the three ranked here.

Hawthorn Early Years comes first on the regulatory evidence and it is not close. All seven quality areas above the standard, confirmed twice, most recently in October 2025 — the freshest assessment of the four services in the locality — and the most recent regulatory visit, April 2026. It also carries nothing on its approval record, which is worth saying plainly because the centre ranked below it carries six conditions. Two things to weigh against that. It publishes no fee at all, so the one comparison every family makes cannot be made here from public data; you will have to ring, and you should do that before you tour. And its Google rating is 3.3 from 13 reviews, the lowest and the thinnest of the three — 13 reviews is a small base to read anything into, which is the reason the figure is given rather than interpreted.

West Hawthorn Early Childhood Centre is a not-for-profit run by an incorporated association from Church Street, with 40 approved places. It is the smallest of the four long day care services in the locality and roughly a quarter the size of the centre ranked above it.

It operates 7:30am to 6:00pm on weekdays. The register publishes ordinary hours only; the centre's own material describes a shutdown of about two weeks over Christmas, which the register does not record either way.

The July 2024 assessment returned Exceeding across all seven quality areas, as the October 2019 assessment did before it. Fees are $196.00 a day flat from birth to preschool age, covering eight items including all meals, nappies, education programs and excursions.

No Google review record was found for this service in the 1 August 2026 harvest. That harvest covered centres already ranked on this site, and this one was not, so the absence reflects our coverage rather than the centre's standing.

West Hawthorn matches the centre above it on the assessment itself — every one of the seven areas rated above the standard, twice over — and loses first place on recency, July 2024 against October 2025. Three practical things separate it, and none is a footnote. It holds 40 approved places against 155, which changes the odds of getting in and the feel of the place in opposite directions. It closes for roughly two weeks over Christmas, which for a family with no leave left is not a detail. And six conditions sit on its service approval: the provider must follow environmental advice prepared by a named consultant and inspect the outdoor space in line with it before children go outside each day, and a waiver of regulation 108(2) — the outdoor space requirement — applies while planned renovation works are undertaken. The waiver is tied to those works and is not permanent, and further conditions require safe access to outdoor space during the renovation and notification to the regulator within fourteen days once the waiver is no longer needed. Set against that, the centre ranked first carries no conditions at all. None of this is an enforcement action and none of it is a quality finding — but if you tour here in the next few months you will be looking at an outdoor space mid-works, and you should ask what stage it is at and what the environmental advice requires.

Only About Children Hawthorn sits on Barkers Road with 109 approved places, operated by the Only About Children group, which has run the service since May 2018. It opens 7:15am to 6:15pm, the longest weekday span of the three ranked here by half an hour at each end.

The published fee is $190.00 a day to 35 months and $185.00 from 36 months to preschool age, covering eight items including all meals, nappies, education programs and excursions. It is the only one of the three whose rate changes with a child's age.

Its March 2024 assessment returned Meeting in every quality area, as the April 2019 assessment did. It ranks third here because both centres above it are rated above the national standard in all seven areas and this one is not above it in any.

Its Google rating stands at 3.6 from 19 reviews, captured 1 August 2026 — the largest review base of the three ranked here, though 19 is still a small number.

Only About Children is third on the rating and the gap is the whole reason for the order: Meeting in all seven areas, against two centres above the standard in all seven. That is a real difference in assessed quality and it is the criterion this site leads with. What it offers instead is practical. The day is the longest of the three, 7:15am to 6:15pm, which matters if your commute does. The fee is published, itemised and drops by $5.00 a day once a child turns three, and at $190.00 it undercuts the Exceeding-rated centre ranked above it by $6.00. Its two conditions are the ordinary categorical kind about playground standards and barrier climbing, plus a soil management plan for the site; they are worth asking about but they describe design requirements rather than findings against the service. If assessed quality is what you are buying, the two above are better. If hours and a known, published price are what you need, this is the one you can plan around today.