How we score child care agencies in Perth

Perth Early Learning Guide currently scores 130 child care agency businesses across the Perth Metropolitan area. Every score is built from the same rubric applied the same way to every business, so a family comparing options in Joondalup can trust that a listing in Armadale was measured against the same yardstick. This page explains what goes into that score, why we weight things the way we do, and where the limits of the method sit.

What goes into the composite score

Each business gets a composite score out of 100, built from five measured signals. They are listed here from heaviest to lightest weight.

Sentiment: 28%

This is the single biggest input, and deliberately so. Sentiment is our synthesis of what recent reviews actually say, the specific praise and the specific complaints, not just the star count attached to them. Two child care providers can carry an identical average rating while one has a string of recent reviews mentioning the same problem (understaffing on certain days, slow communication about incidents, high educator turnover) and the other doesn't. A star average smooths all of that away. Reading what people actually wrote is the only way to catch a pattern before you sign a family up.

Rating: 26%

The Google aggregate star rating still matters. It's a fast, broad signal of overall satisfaction and we weight it close to sentiment, but not above it, because a rating alone can't tell you whether recent experience matches the historical average.

Volume: 20%

How many reviews a business has, log-scaled so that going from 5 reviews to 50 counts for more than going from 500 to 550. This stops a handful of reviews from carrying the same weight as a genuinely large, tested sample, while not letting the biggest operators dominate purely on size.

Recency: 12%

How recently people have actually reviewed the business. Child care centres change staff, change management, and change policies. A business full of glowing reviews from four years ago tells you less than a smaller set of reviews from the last few months.

Completeness: 14%

Whether basic operational details are listed and correct: phone number, website, hours, and address. For a service where you may need to call at short notice or check opening hours before a drop-off, this is a practical signal of how easy a business is to actually deal with, not just how it's perceived.

Why sentiment gets the most weight

Star ratings are useful, but they're an average, and averages hide patterns. A provider can sit at 4.5 stars while three of its last ten reviews mention the same specific issue. Another provider at the same 4.5 stars might have zero recurring complaints. Choosing child care isn't like choosing a cafe: the cost of missing a pattern is much higher. That's why we put more weight on synthesising what reviews say than on the number attached to them.

Where confidence runs low

Businesses with few recent reviews simply don't give the model enough to work with. We label these listings as low-confidence rather than pretend the score carries the same weight as one built on a deep, recent review history. We also don't republish review text; we synthesise themes from it and link out to Google so you can read the original source yourself.

Scores are earned, not edited

Every score comes from this rubric and the underlying data, full stop. Paid placement, where it exists on this site, is always labelled clearly and never changes a business's score or position. If any list's picks or order were reviewed or adjusted by an editor rather than generated purely from the rubric, that is disclosed on the page itself. Our best long day care list follows the same rule.

Who publishes this guide

Perth Early Learning Guide is published by Scout Local Media, an independent Australian publisher that has run this guide since 2026. Scout Local Media builds practical local directories and guides so people can make informed decisions about local services, and so genuinely good local businesses get found. You can read more at scoutlocalmedia.com.au or reach the team at hello@scoutlocalmedia.com.au.

Editorial oversight of these rankings sits with Farah Vogel, Content Lead, who maintains the rubric and the listings on this site. Data behind the scores is refreshed monthly, and each listing carries a "last verified" stamp so you can see the maintenance is active rather than one-off. Start from the home page to browse the full directory.