Chatswood community preschool months from closure, as council gives lease to private daycare

Parents have been left confused and upset after a community preschool in Chatswood has been forced to close its doors.

The preschool, KU Chatswood, is on Victor Street in Willoughby. Last December Willoughby City Council chose not to renew the centre's lease.

“It's a preschool that serves the community for $13 a day that has a 400 person wait list,” Jason Fernandez, who has two children at KU Chatswood, told the Lorikeet. “They just kick them out. It seems really bizarre.”

While Chatswood has an abundance of daycares, vacancies for community preschools are scarce. The closure leaves only two community preschools in the Willoughby LGA. According to Fernandez, both centres have waitlists ranging from 300 to 400.

Community preschools operate on fees subsidised by the State Government. Fernandez pays $26 a day for his two children to attend KU Chatswood, but said that at a private facility it could be more than $220 a day.

He said his children had “absolutely loved and thrived in KU”.

KU Chatswood’s lease expires on December 19. The new tenants will operate a private long daycare, and have said that fees for existing families will not rise until the end of 2026.

Image Credit: KU Chatswood