Compare at a glance, then book a tour. No scrolling required.
Every centre was assessed against five criteria: NQS rating independently assessed by the Victorian regulatory authority, fee transparency verified against the Starting Blocks database, parent satisfaction drawn from Google Reviews, program quality including curriculum approach and educator qualifications, and practical value including hours, inclusions and Free Kinder access.
We do not accept payment from any centre to appear on this list. Our rankings are independent.
Fees are the Starting Blocks full-day rate for the 0-12 month room and are age-banded; confirm the rate for your child’s age group with the centre. Goodstart’s daily fee is not published on Starting Blocks. TODO: suburb average pending Goodstart fee.
Meeting NQS issued May 2026, the most recent assessment of any centre in the Mernda top 3. Exceeding in one quality area (Collaborative partnerships with families and communities). Provider: Goodstart Early Learning Ltd, Australia’s largest not-for-profit early learning provider.
Regulatory visit February 2026
Goodstart Jindi Kindergarten and Extended Care operates from 48W Breadalbane Avenue on Wurundjeri land, run by Goodstart Early Learning, Australia’s largest not-for-profit early learning provider. The service holds a Meeting NQS rating issued in May 2026, the most recent assessment of any centre on this list, and is rated Exceeding in Quality Area 6, collaborative partnerships with families and communities. Bachelor-qualified teachers lead the approved three and four-year-old kindergarten programs, aligned to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework.
The program is play-based and built around a key educator model, where each child has a dedicated educator who builds a secure attachment and tracks individual progress, with daily updates shared through the Storypark app. Outdoor learning is a feature: the centre has large natural play areas, vegetable gardens and a worm farm, runs bush kinder activities, and walks to weekly library sessions at Mernda Central College. Partnerships with the Brotherhood of St Laurence and allied health services support inclusion.
Goodstart Jindi is unusual in the suburb for its enrolment flexibility. Families can choose free sessional kindergarten across two days with meals included, a mixed model that combines sessional kindergarten with long day care, or full-time long day care kindergarten with the Child Care Subsidy applied. The centre opens from 6:30am to 6:30pm on weekdays, suiting families commuting down the Mernda rail line.
Goodstart Jindi takes the top spot in Mernda on the strength of the most recent assessment in the suburb (Meeting NQS, May 2026, with one Exceeding quality area) and a genuinely flexible enrolment model that few growth-corridor centres match. The free sessional kindergarten option, the key educator model and the bush kinder and library program give it a well-rounded offer, backed by the resources of Australia’s largest not-for-profit provider.
Meeting NQS issued May 2024, with Exceeding in one quality area (Collaborative partnerships with families and communities). Provider: Story House Early Learning No 28 Pty Ltd.
Regulatory visit May 2026
Story House Early Learning Mernda at 5 Bent Street is a 120-place centre serving children from six weeks to five years across dedicated Nursery, Toddler and Kindergarten rooms. It holds a Meeting NQS rating issued May 2024, with Exceeding in collaborative partnerships with families and communities. The program runs on Story House’s STRONG Beginnings curriculum, an inquiry-based approach that emphasises confidence, resilience and emotional wellbeing, with a Pathways to School literacy focus for the three to five-year-olds.
Learning spans STEM (hands-on coding, bee studies and recycling projects), arts using real tools and open-ended materials, nature play and sustainability through the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, and wellbeing through yoga, mindfulness and healthy eating. A professional on-site kitchen, led by Chef Sunny, prepares fresh meals daily using garden produce, with interactive cooking classes for the children. Communication with families runs through the Storypark app.
The centre charges no bond or enrolment fee, and its daily fee is all-inclusive, covering meals, supplies and activities. Other features include weekly sports and yoga, monthly excursions, intergenerational community programs, and safe-sleep practices aligned to Red Nose Australia guidelines. The centre is open Monday to Friday from 6:30am to 6:00pm.
“I cannot recommend Story House Early Learning Centre Mernda highly enough. The team is truly outstanding.”
“The staff is incredibly friendly, professional, and genuinely cares about each child’s development and well-being.”
Story House Mernda ranks second on a clean Meeting rating with one Exceeding quality area, a distinctive garden-to-table program with a dedicated on-site chef, and an all-inclusive fee with no bond. It is the most expensive of the three at $178.30 a day, but the inclusions and the inquiry-based STRONG Beginnings curriculum are substantive. Its public review profile is thinner than the other two, so we suggest a tour and a look at current parent feedback.
Meeting NQS issued May 2023 (all seven quality areas Meeting), an improvement from a previous Working Towards rating. Provider: Victorian YMCA Community Programming Pty Ltd, a not-for-profit.
Regulatory visit April 2026
Mernda YMCA Early Learning Centre at 2 Goulburn Street sits next to Mernda Park Primary School and is run by Victorian YMCA Community Programming, a not-for-profit. It holds a Meeting NQS rating issued May 2023, across all seven quality areas, an improvement on its earlier Working Towards rating. The centre serves children from six weeks to pre-school across nursery, toddler, three-year-old kindergarten and four-year-old kindergarten or pre-prep rooms, with all kindergarten programs led by Bachelor-qualified Early Childhood Teachers.
The program is play-based and supports emotional, physical and cognitive development, with dedicated STEM spaces, music and language programs, large outdoor areas and a vegetable garden used for sustainability learning. A distinctive strength is the centre’s multilingual team, which speaks English, Fijian, Hindi, Punjabi, Sinhalese and Urdu, reflecting Mernda’s culturally diverse community.
At $149.50 a day for the youngest room, Mernda YMCA is the most affordable of the three ranked centres, and the fee is broad in what it covers: meals, snacks, milk alternatives, nappies, wipes, bed linen and sunscreen. The centre qualifies for the Child Care Subsidy and Victoria’s Free Kinder program, and opens from 6:30am to 6:30pm on weekdays.
“The environment they have created is warm, engaging, and supportive for both children and families.”
“They offer lots of fun and meaningful activities on the daily basis, promotes safe and beautiful community feelings.”
Mernda YMCA rounds out the top three as the value and community option. It has the lowest daily fee of the three, the broadest list of included extras, the deepest review profile (4.2 from 26 reviews) and a notably multilingual team. Its rating is the oldest of the three (May 2023) and all seven quality areas sit at Meeting rather than Exceeding, which is why it ranks third, but as a not-for-profit community centre with funded kindergarten it is an easy centre to recommend.
Mernda marks the northern terminus of the Mernda rail line, the point where Melbourne’s northern growth corridor runs out of train track and into paddock. The 2018 rail extension reshaped the suburb: what had been a semi-rural edge of the City of Whittlesea became a fast-filling commuter community of young families, and childcare demand followed the housing. Most of the suburb’s long day care centres opened within the last decade, several within the last few years, so parents here are choosing between newer, purpose-built services rather than long-established ones.
Because Mernda is still maturing, its centres skew toward the Meeting National Quality Standard rating that is typical of growth-corridor suburbs, and the differences that matter to families tend to be in the detail: how recently a centre was assessed, the strength of individual quality areas, fee transparency, and the depth of genuine parent reviews. Mernda shares its 3754 postcode with neighbouring Doreen, so it pays to confirm a centre is physically in Mernda before enrolling.
Families in Mernda typically weigh the daily fee and what it includes, whether a funded three and four-year-old kindergarten runs on site, and how early a centre opens for the commute down the rail line or the Plenty Road corridor. The three centres ranked here each run government-approved kindergarten programs and open from 6:30am.
Mernda is a young, fast-growing family suburb at the northern end of the Mernda rail line in the City of Whittlesea. Its long day care centres are mostly recent builds, and demand has risen with the housing.
The 2018 Mernda rail extension turned a semi-rural edge into a commuter suburb of young families. Centres that open from 6:30am, like all three ranked here, suit the rail and Plenty Road commute.
Mernda shares postcode 3754 with Doreen. Confirm a centre is physically in Mernda before enrolling; addresses on this page are all Mernda-side.
All three ranked centres run government-approved three and four-year-old kindergarten programs and are approved for Victoria’s Free Kinder funding.
Information on this page was last verified: June 2026
top3elc.com.au is an independent guide to the best childcare centres in every suburb across Victoria. We do not accept payment or sponsorship from any centre to appear in our rankings. All NQS ratings are sourced from ACECQA via the Starting Blocks government database. Fees are verified at time of publication. Always confirm directly with the centre. Last updated: February 2026.
Select 1, 2 or all 3 centres to request tours from. top3elc.com.au does not receive referral fees.