A childcare centre in Sydney‘s southwest is facing up to $100,000 in fines after a child was left face-down in a bucket of water.

Jenny’s Kindergarten and Early Learning Centre at Gregory Hills was shut down in September due to serious concerns for child safety after a ‘number of serious incidents were alleged to have occurred’ in early 2025.

While the nature of the allegations wasn’t disclosed at the time, parents were asked to pick up their children within minutes of learning its approval to operate had been suspended by the NSW Early Learning Commission.

According to court documents seen by the Daily Telegraph, the company behind the centre – JK St George Holdings Pty Ltd – is now facing criminal charges after a boy became wedged in a bucket of water while unsupervised in the sandpit area.

On Tuesday, Campbelltown Local Court heard the boy became stuck after he repeatedly reached into the bucket to retrieve toys, each time lifting his feet off the ground as he bent over the lip of the 65-litre bucket.

The toddler then became wedged in the bucket for over a minute before he began kicking his legs, attracting the attention of one of the educators, who rushed over to rescue him.

‘When I got (the child), the back of his head was on the base of the bucket and his chin on his chest looking back towards his legs. The water level was just over his face,’ the educator later told investigators.

‘I reefed him out and noticed a bit of water come out of his mouth as he came out of the bucket. When I pulled him out, his face wasn’t red or blue or anything, he was just normal.’

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A childcare centre in Sydney’s southwest is facing up to $100,000 in fines after a child was left face-down in a bucket of water (pictured is the outdoor area)

Jenny’s Kindergarten and Early Learning Centre at Gregory Hills was shut down in September due to serious concerns for child safety after a ‘number of serious alleged incidents’

While she couldn’t say how much water was in the bucket, another staff member estimated it to be about 15cm deep.

The boy was later deemed uninjured and no ambulance attended.

The court heard a staffer failed to complete the centre’s ‘outside checklist’ before allowing children into the yard, which required staff to check the equipment was dry and safe and there were no water puddles.

The educator reportedly said she wouldn’t always check for water in the bucket as it was ‘usually full of toys and you can’t see the bottom’.

After the incident, the centre replaced the bucket with one that had drainage holes, carried out further staff training and prepared an active supervision zone diagram.

JK St George Holdings has pleaded guilty to one count each of not adequately supervising children in care of service and not protecting children from harm or hazard.

Both charges carry maximum fines of $57,400.

The company will face sentencing later this year.

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The centre was shut down in September 2025 due to serious concerns for child safety

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Anna Gewargis (pictured) was found guilty of sexually touching and assaulting a three-year-old boy, and assaulting two other children

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No staff employed at the centre at the time are facing any charges.

It comes just weeks after a childcare worker from Sydney’s west was jailed for assaulting and sexually touching three children under her care in a separate incident.

Anna Gewargis was jailed for almost two years over incidents at a home in Denham Court, where she ran an unregistered daycare centre.

SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15872057/sydney-childcare-centre-bucket-incident-fine.html