C&K Annual Report 2025 highlights workforce investment, quality gains and reform focus

The Creche and Kindergarten Association has released its 2025 Annual Report, outlining a year in which workforce investment, child safety, quality improvement and major policy reform shaped operations across its Queensland network.

C&K supported more than 18,000 children in 2025 across 139 kindergartens, 45 childcare centres and 141 affiliated community kindergartens, reinforcing its position as one of Queensland’s largest early childhood education and care providers.

The report shows a provider navigating a changing operating environment, with Free Kindy, workforce funding, stronger safeguarding expectations and increased demand for flexible access all influencing service delivery.

Enrolments and access

Although the report does not publish occupancy percentages, C&K pointed to strong enrolment figures as one of the drivers of its 2025 financial result.

A total of 8,366 children accessed Free Kindy through C&K’s sessional kindergarten, extended-hours kindergarten and long day care kindergarten programs. The organisation also transitioned three centres to extended-hours kindergarten, giving 88 families access to longer days.

Those figures suggest that demand remained resilient across the network, even as parts of the broader early childhood education and care market continue to face affordability pressures, changing family patterns and localised competition.

Quality and compliance

Quality performance remained a strong feature of the report, with 98 per cent of C&K centres rated Meeting or Exceeding the National Quality Standard.

During the year, 41 centres underwent assessment and rating, with all rated Meeting or Exceeding. C&K also reported that 39.89 per cent of its branch centres were rated Exceeding, compared with 15.4 per cent across Queensland and 19.8 per cent nationally.

The strongest improvement was recorded in Quality Area 2.2 – Each child is protected, reflecting the organisation’s increased focus on safeguarding and the wider sector’s sharper attention to child safety.

C&K’s child safety work included mandatory training for 776 teachers and educators, the establishment of a Child Safeguarding Steering Group, new policies covering digital devices, online technologies and children’s images, and contributions to the Queensland Family and Child Commission’s In Plain Sight review.

Workforce investment

Workforce was one of the clearest priorities in the report.

C&K reported an employee retention rate of 82.2 per cent, up 4.3 percentage points, supported by above-award wages, wellbeing initiatives and the Australian Government’s Worker Retention Payment Grant.

The organisation passed on $7.4 million in Worker Retention Payment Grant funding to eligible employees, while salaries and wages reached $119.999 million and superannuation contributions totalled $13.685 million.

C&K also approved more than 210 scholarship agreements through its Qualifications Pathways Program, with 35 scholars completing qualifications during the year.

The investment reflects the increasingly close link between workforce stability, quality practice and service sustainability across the sector.

Financial performance

C&K recorded total revenue of $189.8 million in 2025, an increase of $24.8 million, or 15.1 per cent, in the previous year.

Expenses also rose, increasing by $20.4 million, or 12.6 per cent, to $182.5 million. The increase reflected higher salary and wage costs, Worker Retention Payment Grant expenses, newly transitioned centres, professional development costs and higher depreciation.

The organisation reported a $7.3 million operating surplus, equal to 3.9 per cent of total revenue, up from $2.9 million in 2024. Net surplus was $8.5 million, while net assets increased to $66.1 million.

Inclusion, reconciliation and research

The report also pointed to continued investment in inclusion, cultural capability and evidence-based practice.

C&K continued its participation in the Queensland Government’s Kindy Uplift program and launched a Professional Toolkit to support educators and teachers across areas including inclusion, Auslan, storytelling, nature play and embedding First Nations perspectives.

Under its Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan, 79 per cent of staff reported feeling confident to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and contribute to reconciliation. C&K also held the inaugural Far North Queensland Kindy Uplift Symposium – Embedding First Nations’ Perspectives, attended by almost 200 delegates.

Research and inquiry remained part of the organisation’s work, with 11 external research projects and 55 internal practitioner enquiries completed in 2025.

Capital investment and resilience

C&K invested $5.1 million in property upgrades during the year, including solar panels, playgrounds, fencing, kitchens and bathrooms.

The report also noted the operational impact of severe weather, including temporary closures linked to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and the rebuild of C&K Ingham Community Kindergarten and Preschool following flooding. The centre reopened in October 2025.

A year shaped by reform

C&K’s 2025 Annual Report captures a year in which early childhood providers were required to respond to significant reform while maintaining focus on children, families, workforce and quality.

For C&K, the year was marked by stronger employee retention, high National Quality Standard performance, expanded access through Free Kindy and extended-hours models, and a clear focus on safeguarding and professional capability.

Read the full C&K Annual Report 2025 here.