CentriWebA good childcare centre website answers the questions parents ask first: where you are and your opening hours, which ages you take and whether you have places, what it costs after the Child Care Subsidy, your National Quality Standard rating, what the rooms and educators are like, and how to book a tour or join the waitlist. If a parent can find all of that on a phone in a couple of minutes, your website is doing its job.
Most families compare several centres before they call any of them. This guide looks at your website from the parent’s side, section by section, so you can see what to add, what to fix and what to leave out.
What do parents check first on a childcare centre website?
Parents usually start with the practical deal-breakers. If these aren’t obvious, many move on to the next centre in the search results.
- Location: a street address, a map, and parking or drop-off notes. Mention nearby landmarks, train stations or schools if they help.
- Hours: opening and closing times, and whether you close over Christmas or on public holidays.
- Ages and rooms: which age groups you take, from babies to preschool or kindergarten.
- Availability: whether you have places now, on which days, or whether there is a waitlist.
- Contact: a phone number that can be tapped on a mobile, and a simple enquiry or tour form.
Put these on the home page, near the top, not on a page called “About us”. Many parents do this research at night, on a phone, after the children are in bed.
How should you explain fees and the Child Care Subsidy?
Fees are the question parents most want answered and the one many centre websites avoid. You don’t need to publish every detail, but give enough to set expectations.
- Your daily fee or a fee range, and the session length it covers.
- What is included, such as meals, nappies, sunscreen or excursions.
- A plain explanation that the Child Care Subsidy reduces what families pay.
Keep the subsidy explanation general and link to the source, because the rules change. Services Australia explains that the Child Care Subsidy is paid directly to the provider to reduce the fees families pay, and that families pay the remaining gap fee. How much a family gets depends on their circumstances, including family income. Services Australia also has an estimator families can use.
The rules on subsidised hours changed in January 2026, when the 3 Day Guarantee replaced the old activity test. Rather than restating the details on your site and risking them going out of date, link to the official page and offer to talk families through it on a tour.
Should you show your National Quality Standard rating?
Yes. Many parents look for it, and if you don’t show it, they can find it anyway. Services are assessed against the National Quality Standard, which has seven quality areas, including children’s health and safety, the physical environment, and governance and leadership. The rating levels are Significant Improvement Required, Working Towards, Meeting and Exceeding the National Quality Standard, with a separate Excellent rating awarded by ACECQA.
Families can compare services on StartingBlocks, the government website run by ACECQA, which shows quality ratings, fees and vacancies. Check your StartingBlocks listing says the same as your website. A parent who sees different fees or hours in two places starts to wonder which one is right.
If your rating is Working Towards, say so plainly and explain what you’re doing about it. Parents generally respond better to honesty than to a rating they have to go looking for.
Photos, rooms and educators: show the real centre
Parents want to picture their child there. Real photos of your rooms, outdoor areas, kitchen and sleep room do that far better than stock images of smiling children who have never been to your centre.
- Rooms by age group: a short description of each room, the daily routine and what a typical day looks like.
- Educators: introduce your centre director and room leaders with a photo and a few lines, with their permission.
- Your approach: your philosophy in plain English, not a page of curriculum terms.
- Food and safety: menus, allergy handling and how you manage drop-off and pick-up.
Children’s photos need consent
Photos of children are the most sensitive content on a childcare centre website. ACECQA’s information on child safety changes from 1 September 2025 explains that services need policies and procedures for the safe use of digital technologies, including getting authorisation from parents to take, use and store images and videos of children. Your website and social media should follow your service’s policy.
In practice, that means written consent that specifically covers the website, a record of who has consented, removing a photo promptly if a parent asks, and never naming children in captions. Many centres use photos of hands, activities and spaces rather than faces. This is general information, not legal advice. Check your obligations with your regulatory authority.
Tours, waitlists and enrolment steps
Once a parent is interested, the next step should be obvious from every page. Make it easy to book a tour, join the waitlist or ask a question, and tell them what happens next.
| Section | What parents want to know | What to include |
|---|---|---|
| Book a tour | When can I visit, and how long does it take? | Available times or a booking calendar, and what to bring |
| Waitlist | How does the waitlist work, and will I hear back? | Child’s age, days wanted, start date, and when you’ll be in touch |
| Enrolment | What are the steps once a place is offered? | A numbered list of steps, forms needed and orientation details |
| Fees | What will it cost us? | Daily fee, inclusions and a link to Services Australia |
| Contact | Can I just ask a question? | Phone, email and a short form with only the fields you need |
Keep enquiry forms short. Child’s age, preferred days, start date and a contact number are usually enough for a first enquiry. Then reply quickly. Our guide to turning enquiries into enrolments covers the follow-up after the form is sent.
Is your childcare centre website easy to use on a phone?
Most parents will see your site on a phone first. Test it yourself: open it on a mobile, find your fees, book a tour and call the centre. If any of that takes more than a few taps, fix it.
- Pages should load quickly, even with photos. Large images should be compressed.
- Text should be readable without zooming, with good contrast.
- Forms should work with a phone keyboard and show clear error messages.
- Important information, like fees or menus, shouldn’t be locked inside PDFs that are hard to read on a phone.
Some parents and carers use screen readers or other assistive technology. Our guide to website accessibility covers the basics and a quick self-check.
What to leave out
- Stock photos that don’t show your centre.
- Claims you can’t back up, like “the best childcare in the area”.
- Fees or subsidy figures that are out of date.
- Long forms that ask for everything before a parent has even visited.
- Pop-ups that cover the phone number on a mobile.
Where to start
- Open your website on a phone and time how long it takes to find your hours, fees and tour booking.
- Add location, hours, ages and availability near the top of the home page.
- Write a short fees section with inclusions and a link to Services Australia.
- Show your NQS rating and check your StartingBlocks listing matches your website.
- Replace stock photos with real photos, using only images covered by written consent.
- Make the tour, waitlist and enrolment steps clear, and reply to every enquiry quickly.
A clear childcare centre website saves your team from answering the same questions on the phone and brings in families who already know you suit them. If you’d like help with a new site or a refresh, our website design and build work includes centres like yours, and our early learning page shows how we connect the website to enquiry follow-up.