Childcare and Preschool for Chatswood Families

The commuter case

Why Chatswood families choose Lead

When parents compare childcare Chatswood centres against one closer to home, the deciding question is usually where the day should start. Parents who work in Chatswood but live in St Ives, Pymble, Gordon or Turramurra often find care near home works better: shorter trips for the child, friends who live nearby, and no scramble if work plans change.

That way, if one parent is delayed in Chatswood, the other parent or a grandparent close to home can collect without crossing half the North Shore.

Care near home also keeps the child's day shorter. A baby or toddler who spends 30 minutes in the car each way before and after a long day at care is often more tired than one who travels 5 minutes.

Children also benefit from making friends who live nearby, which helps with play dates now and familiar faces when school starts.

Beyond location, families value what the centre offers: a Reggio Emilia inspired program, a teacher-led preschool year, a fee that includes food, nappies and every session, and an Exceeding quality rating from May 2026.

For Chatswood residents, we are further away than centres in your own suburb, and it makes sense to look locally first. Travelling north makes most sense if you have a specific reason, such as work or family nearby.

Allow for traffic

Drive time and parking

With clear roads, Chatswood station to our centre is about 16 minutes. Traffic on the highway from Chatswood up to Gordon builds heavily at rush hour, so at peak times allow 25 minutes or more. Parking is on Killeaton Street right by our entrance, with a flat path in.

For Ku-ring-gai parents working in Chatswood, the peak direction helps: dropping off in St Ives and then heading south puts you in the flow of traffic only once, rather than twice.

School holidays bring quieter roads, and the morning drive can drop back toward the clear-road time for a few weeks.

In the evening, a 6:00pm close leaves room for the drive north after work, even on a slower night.

A regular departure time takes the stress out of it. Leaving Chatswood by a set time each evening, and knowing roughly how long the highway takes, makes pick-up predictable.

If your work sometimes finishes late, it helps to have a back-up collector near home, such as a grandparent or neighbour, named on your enrolment as someone allowed to collect.

If traffic ever holds you up, a quick phone call means the team knows you are on the way.

Four rooms

Our age groups

We care for children from six weeks old to school age in four rooms: a Nursery for babies, a Toddler room, Pre-Kindy for threes, and Preschool for fours in their last year before school. Every room is run by its own small team, staffed to the NSW ratio for that age.

Babies follow their own timetable for sleeps and bottles in the Nursery, and toddlers get room to climb and talk in the Toddler room.

Three year olds dive into projects in Pre-Kindy, and four year olds follow the School Readiness Program in Preschool.

Starting is gradual, beginning with a few short visits you attend together, so your child meets the educators and settles before their first full day.

Brothers and sisters of different ages can come together too, so the morning stays a single stop even though each child goes to their own room.

For commuting families, that one stop matters. Two separate drop-offs in different suburbs can easily add 20 minutes to a morning that is already tight.

Each room follows the national Early Years Learning Framework, adapted to its age, and educators share what your child has been doing through daily updates, photos and learning stories.

Government help

Child Care Subsidy

Your subsidy percentage is set by your family's income, so it is identical at every approved centre. A family earning $130,000 receives 81.70%, which leaves about $33.49 to pay on our $170 day, or $100.47 for three days a week.

Two commuting parents who each work over 48 hours a fortnight qualify for 100 subsidised hours per child, enough for four of our days each week; every other eligible family starts from 72.

Your gap depends only on the fee, the session length and your percentage, so an inclusive fee over a long session tends to give good value per hour of care.

A second child aged five or under usually receives a higher sibling rate, and preschool-age children may also qualify for NSW Start Strong fee relief at eligible services.

Try your own figures in our childcare cost estimator, or read our fees and subsidy guide.