Community rallies to stop closure of long-standing Brisbane daycare centre

Detailed summary

Families said they were left scrambling to find places for their children in 2027 after they were told the Acacia Ridge centre would shut by Christmas.

A community in Brisbane’s south is fighting to stop the closure of a local childcare and kindergarten centre they say has been a community pillar for decades.

Western Brisbane local Angelina Tila said she continued to send her children to the YMCA Acacia Ridge Early Learning Centre despite moving away from the suburb years ago.

“For my family, this centre has never simply been a childcare facility … our relationship with the centre spans decades,” she said.

Parents and staff members at the early learning centre were notified in mid-October Y Queensland (formerly YMCA Queensland) would shutter from December 18, ending more than 40 years of operation at the community organisation’s oldest – and now last standing – childcare centre in the state.

Fellow parent Luke McMahon said the closure meant he was scrambling ahead of Christmas to find a new centre for his daughter.

“It’s not just that, it’s that … it took her about five months before she started feeling comfortable at the centre,” he said.

Another parent who expected to keep her son enrolled at the Acacia Ridge Early Learning Centre for kindergarten next year said she was now struggling to find placements at other centres with fewer than three months’ notice.

The families have launched several petitions with the Brisbane City Council and online, attracting several hundred signatures.

A Y Queensland spokesperson said the not-for-profit organisation had found it “increasingly challenging” to keep the early learning facility afloat.

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