We've been at Little Zak's Kiama since November 2024. We loved that it was a brand new centre, with fresh resources and educators that were there for our daughter. We appreciate and understand that every new business has teething issues and this never affected our daughter. The initial adjustment of our daughter going into daycare for the first time (not even with family) definitely tested my emotions, but after 7 weeks she was ok. While she had her days of not wanting me to leave, she was always happily playing when I called to check on her later. She now handles drop off like a champ and talks all the time about her educators, friends and the lovely cook. We're very happy with the way our daughter is thriving at Little Zak's Kiama and the care, consideration and attention she receives from all the staff.

My two boys have been attending for about a year now and I am nothing but impressed. The staff have a genuine care for the kids; they have taken the time to get to know my boys and have a good understanding of their individual personalities. The facility is beautiful and always clean. The boys often come home with new songs and games to share with me. It feels like a family.

Our 2 rainbow babies are enrolled and attending Little Zak's Kiama and LOVE it. They have been so supportive in the transition for them attending and communication has been amazing, which is important for us. The educators all really love their jobs and our kids and we wouldn't have them anywhere else. They have always been open to feedback and have time to update us on how our kids day has been and even helped our toddler be fully toilet trained in such a short time! Thank you Little Zak's for taking such good care of our kids!

My nephew attends Little Zak’s Academy Kiama and our family has had such a wonderful experience. The educators are warm, caring and genuinely invested in the children. It’s lovely seeing how excited he is to go each day and how much he is learning through play and activities. The centre always feels welcoming and well organised, and it’s clear the staff put a lot of effort into creating a safe and engaging environment. We’re really grateful for the care and support he receives there.

Great nurturing centre. Jacqueline the director is professional and caring. Would highly recommend little Zacs kiama

My daughter has been attending this centre since September last year. We have had nothing but a positive experience, the educators are warm and welcoming each and everyday. The centre is clean and has beautiful learning environments. She particularly has great relationships with educators Olivia, Liv and Riteshni. Alway asking "kindy time?"

Noticed that there reviews are frequently poor. Unfortunately our report is the same. Our son attended the centre Mon to Fri for about a year, and we had frequent negative feedback from the staff about his behavior. The issues raised were in stark contrast to the child we know at home. The centre seems big on blaming children for diss-regulated behaviour without any sound techniques for bringing them back towards calm and safe. During the time they knew him they learnt almost nothing about him as a person and seemingly made no connection with him on an emotional level. Kids need to feel safe, seen, understood and valued. The centre did none of these things, and could not understand why behaviors were poor or irratic. I recommend on several occasions and even tried supplying some reading material to help them improve such as 'little people big feelings', 'the whole brain child' and 'raising boys in the 21st century' none of which were utilized. A prime example of their inability to connect the dots is that they used to play 'danny go' on tv, and then complain that the kids were climbing up on tables (watch the show - the kids are doing what you have shown them to do) - at drop off the staff will greet your child and say nothing to the parents, when you enter the room there will often be no one there and you will wait until a staff memer enters the room. In addition daily music is commonly played at an ear splitting volume. Since moving our son to a new daycare he has blossomed, his new daycare speak with him with care, respect and understanding and he loves them for it and repays them in return. My advise to parents is to stear clear of this centre. My advice to the staff, don't bother with a PR response to this post, because it does nothing for your cause, instead focus on making corrective changes for the kids and parents that are still at your centre. 1. take resonsibilty and stop blaming the kids for their behaviour (there is no such thing as a bad kid just poor modeling) 2. regulate the environment to maintain a calm and relaxed space 3. get to know the kids, talk to them, what do they like, what dont they like 4. structure your day so the kids know whats next - do not deviate from the structure but allow structured alternatives (painting, blocks or puzzles at whatever time, etc) 5. understand that the kids want to do the right thing and get along, but their little metaphorical cups fill up fast and its your job to stay calm and model a relaxed response. "I can see that you are having a difficult time, i would love to help you feel better, what can we do together to make things better for you?" 6. greet parents and kids, make them feel welcome, and have the space ready on arrival, staff should be in the room and ready for the start of the day upon arrival of the first child and parent 7. apply some humility and admit you don't know everything and you sometimes get it wrong. It's only human, and you will find the parents much more receptive to errors if you stop faking 'total control' and 'professionalism' and take on board advice and direction from parents who know 8. stop all the crazy incident reports. Parents do not want to pick up their child after 8hrs of work to hear nothing but negative reports day in and day out. The constant negativity needs to be corrected as priority one. You may find this difficult to understand, but no parent wants to hear that their child is a problem, day after day after day. Particularly when it is almost impossible to correct an error in behavior retrospectively hours after the event.

Would not recommend sending your child here. I attended a centre tour with the Regional Manager and it was great - the centre was clean, the staff smiled and said hello and it was very welcoming. Then I attended an Orientation. I received 3 reminders of my attendance and when I arrived they didn’t know who I was, that I was attending, my child’s name or when I was starting/what days. I was given another tour and during that time 3 casuals arrived and interrupted to ask where they needed to go. The person showing me around seemed like 2IC and it was chaotic. She left me in the babies room. The lead educator told me she had resigned and left in the room was 1 full time educator who didn’t smile at us, say anything or engage with my son, 2 trainees (who were lovely but one had only just started that week) and casuals. There was such a distinct lack of leadership and organisation. Children were crying and coming up to me rather than educators. Children were missing shoes and had snotty noses. No one seemed to really engage with the children in the babies section other than the brand new trainee and the exiting lead educator. They didn’t even have an “All About Me” form to complete because “they’ve lost them”. As someone who has run a 220 employee aged care business I get it’s a tough industry but they’re clearly chronically understaffed, relying on agency employees and struggling to recruit and retain quality and experienced employees. Agency has a place and I’m sure the employees are great, but I would prefer a centre that has their own staff so my child sees the same face and we know their movements (given the recent news about terrible things happening in VIC centres). I imagine (having run my own business for 10 years) this is because their employee value proposition isn’t strong and is a reflection on the culture of the corporate organisation behind the brand. Quality people aren’t perhaps as attracted to it as much as other centres. It’ll get there I imagine but it will take time and until then they need to get their staff and team sorted before they take on new families. They’re having an influx of new children I was told and the Centre Director who I never met and was never on the floor (a problem in my opinion) mentioned they had a change in staff and leadership. Companies like this are so quick to blame the employees or the Centre Managers. We see it in aged care all the time. The problem lies with the structure, the leadership and the big beast of the business struggling to maintain the mission - which should be children’s wellbeing and safety. I’ve had a good experience with my elder daughter being part of a national childcare brand so it’s not like this for every brand. However LZ has had some significant media coverage recently and I think it speaks volumes about how poor the governance, quality, leadership and employee experience is. I’m lucky I’m not desperate for childcare and have decided to remove my son and wait for my preferred centres. Also - they’ve had an influx of 5 star reviews with no comments all on the same day in October 2025. This is so obviously friends/staff trying to change the rating. Further, LZ Kiama seems to ignore negative reviews on here and only respond to the positive ones. They’re trying to falsely inflate their score and not showing accountability. We see it all the time in business and these tactics are disingenuous and should be concerning to families.