Childcare for Families Across Ku-ring-gai and the Upper North Shore

Our catchment

Where our families travel from

Most families at our centre live within a short drive of St Ives, across the suburbs of Ku-ring-gai and the wider Upper North Shore. Choosing childcare on the Upper North Shore is often about the daily route, so many families pick us because St Ives sits between home and work, or on the way to a station.

Ku-ring-gai Council covers most of our catchment, from St Ives, Gordon and Pymble to Turramurra, Wahroonga, Killara, Lindfield and Roseville.

Hornsby, in Hornsby Shire, and Chatswood, in the City of Willoughby, sit at either end of the North Shore railway line and bring families to us too.

To the east, St Ives Chase is our closest neighbour, and families from Belrose and Terrey Hills on the Northern Beaches side sometimes choose us for the Mona Vale Road connection.

Families from further afield are welcome too, especially when a parent works nearby. Anyone can enrol, wherever they live.

St Ives has no railway station, which shapes how families travel. Most drive, and many combine a drop-off here with a train from Gordon, Pymble or Turramurra.

Because long day care has no zoning, you can choose the centre that fits your family best, wherever you live.

The map shows the centre. Zoom out to see how the surrounding suburbs connect by road.

North-west

Hornsby

From Hornsby, the centre is about 8 kilometres by road, roughly 14 minutes off-peak, heading south through Wahroonga and Turramurra before turning onto Mona Vale Road. Hornsby families often choose us for our preschool program and all-year long day care hours, making the short trip down the ridge part of the morning run.

The route is simple to learn: south on the Pacific Highway, through Wahroonga and Turramurra, then east on Mona Vale Road to Killeaton Street.

Hornsby is a major rail hub at the top of the North Shore line, so parents working in the city can drop off here and catch a train from Turramurra or Pymble, rather than driving back to Hornsby.

Allow extra time in the morning, as the Pacific Highway through Wahroonga can be slow in school terms.

A typical Hornsby morning might look like this: leave home just after 7:00am, arrive at Lead before 7:30am to beat the school traffic, then drive on to work or park near Turramurra station, about 7 minutes from us, for the train.

When your child reaches the preschool year, we help with the move to kindergarten at your local school, sharing what we know about your child's learning with you to pass on.

Waitara, between Hornsby and Wahroonga, adds only a couple of minutes to the same route.

Everything a Hornsby family needs to know, from routes to school transition, is on our childcare for Hornsby families page.

Next door, almost

Turramurra

From Turramurra, the centre is about 4.5 kilometres, roughly 7 minutes off-peak. It is one of the most convenient suburbs for a St Ives drop-off, with a direct run across to Mona Vale Road and Turramurra station close by for parents heading into the city.

Turramurra sits on the ridge between Wahroonga and Pymble, and the drive across to St Ives uses local roads before reaching Mona Vale Road, so it rarely involves the worst of the highway traffic.

North Turramurra families are a similar distance, about 8 minutes, coming down through the leafy streets toward Mona Vale Road.

Turramurra's station is a sensible train stop for parents who drop off here first, avoiding the busier interchanges further south.

For families who work locally, a 7 minute trip means pick-up can happen late in the day without a rush, since we are open until 6:00pm.

Our Pre-Kindy and Preschool rooms suit Turramurra families planning for school, as children build the skills for kindergarten over two years.

More detail for local families is on our Turramurra childcare page.

South

Chatswood

From Chatswood, the centre is about 10.5 kilometres, roughly 16 minutes off-peak, heading north along the Pacific Highway to Mona Vale Road. Families who live in Chatswood rarely travel this far for daily care, but parents who live in Ku-ring-gai and work in Chatswood often find St Ives sits neatly on their route.

For those parents, the morning drop-off happens close to home, and the drive or train to Chatswood follows.

Chatswood's station and bus interchange also connect with the North Shore line stations closest to us.

Some parents choose a centre close to work instead, so they can visit at lunch or collect quickly. Others prefer a centre near home, so their child's friends live nearby. Both are good reasons; the right choice depends on your week.

For a parent who lives in Pymble and works in Chatswood, for example, the centre adds only a few minutes to the morning drive.

Allow more time in peak hour, as the Pacific Highway between Chatswood and Gordon is one of the busier stretches in our area.

See our Chatswood families page for routes and timing.

East

St Ives Chase and Belrose

St Ives Chase is our nearest neighbouring suburb, about 3 kilometres and 5 minutes off-peak. Further east, Belrose is about 10 kilometres, roughly 12 minutes, and Terrey Hills about 10 minutes, both coming across Mona Vale Road from the Northern Beaches side.

St Ives itself, of course, is home to many of our families, with the St Ives village shops under 2 minutes away by car, handy for a quick errand after drop-off.

For St Ives Chase families, the centre is close enough that some days a pram walk to the park afterwards is part of the routine.

Terrey Hills, with its semi-rural lots, is about 10 minutes away, making St Ives one of the closer long day care options for families there who work toward the North Shore.

Belrose and Terrey Hills families usually join us because a parent works on the North Shore, so the centre sits on the way rather than out of it.

Mona Vale Road is the connection for all three, and Killeaton Street is a short turn off it.

For families on the Northern Beaches side, the centre is on the way to the North Shore rather than a detour, which is why it can work well when one parent works in Gordon, Pymble or Chatswood.