A daycare center in Sydney, which employed two staff members now facing charges for allegedly assaulting a toddler, has decided to close its doors to start anew.
The workers, both women, were employed by Little Zak’s Academy Doonside located in the western part of Sydney. They were charged with assault last week.
According to NSW Police, the women, ages 28 and 54, are accused of repeatedly assaulting a toddler at the center on Monday, October 13.
Each of the accused faces five counts of common assault and they are scheduled to appear in Blacktown Local Court in December.
On Monday, Little Zak’s Academy issued a letter to parents, which was reported by the Daily Mail, announcing the impending closure of the Doonside daycare facility.
The letter explained, “After an extensive internal review and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to voluntarily suspend our service approval.”
‘This means that Little Zak’s Doonside will close in two weeks’ time, with the final day of operation being Friday 7 November 2025.’
The company said it faced ‘significant challenges’ trying to maintain high-quality standards at the Doonside location.
Little Zak’s Academy Doonside will close within weeks after two female educators were charged with allegedly assaulting a toddler at the western Sydney daycare centre
Pictured is a letter sent by Little Zak’s Academy to parents on Monday advising the Doonside location would close within weeks to allow it to rebuild its staff ‘from the ground up’
‘These challenges stem largely from an established culture within the service that does not align with the values, expectations, and level of care that Little Zak’s is committed to delivering across all of our centres,’ it said.
It told parents it planned to rebuild its educator team ‘from the ground up’, with new staff ‘carefully selected’ by senior management.
The company said it planned to welcome families back to a ‘renewed and strengthened’ Little Zak’s Doonside in the future.
Little Zak’s previously released a statement on Friday confirming the two workers had been terminated as soon as the allegations came to light.
‘We are deeply sorry about what is alleged to have happened to a child in our care,’ the statement read.
The two female educators were new to the family-owned childcare provider, with one starting work on June 30 and the other on August 11.
But the centre said the pair had valid Working With Children Checks and clear criminal history checks.
‘Little Zak’s Academy has a zero-tolerance for any conduct that compromises the wellbeing of a child,’ the statement said.
Both female workers accused of assaulting the toddler have been terminated from the daycare centre and will face court in December (stock)
‘We have been in contact with the parents throughout the week and expressed our profound apologies.’
Little Zak’s has 47 centres and employs nearly 1600 people to provide care for 10,000 children weekly, a NSW parliamentary inquiry heard in September.
Greens MP Abigail Boyd, who chairs the inquiry into the childcare sector and has grilled top brass from several commercial childcare providers, raised several cases of negligence in August at other Little Zak’s centres in the state.
These included a child ‘anaphylactic to dairy’ fed milk products and another child being physically restrained by a worker.
She was sceptical of the immediate closure of the Doonside centre as a face-saving exercise.
‘Are we to take the closure of the service as an admission by Little Zak’s that there were broader systemic issues plaguing the centre rather than it being just a case of a couple of bad apples?’ she told AAP on Monday.
‘Without full transparency over the factors that led to the closure… you could be forgiven for thinking that the decision is more about managing reputational damage.’
Little Zak’s Academy declined to comment when contacted by the Daily Mail.
