How do I check a daycare’s enrolment and wait list before buying?

Enrolment is the centre of a daycare’s income, so it deserves its own check before you go further. A seller’s summary will usually say the centre is full. Your job is to see how that was measured, by whom, and whether it will hold after the handover. The wider list of checks is in what to check before buying a daycare. This page covers enrolment and the wait list only.

Read attendance against enrolment

Ask for attendance records and enrolment records side by side, for each age group and room. A child can be enrolled and rarely present, or present on fewer days than the contract allows. Check whether the records come from the same system and cover the same months. If the seller keeps them by hand, ask how often they are reconciled. Your accountant can compare these records with the revenue in the financial statements.

Understand how the wait list is kept

A wait list is only useful if it is current. Ask who maintains it, whether families are contacted on a schedule, and how a name is removed. Some centres keep a list that grows for years without anyone checking it. Ask to see how many families on the list were contacted in the past season and how many took a space. Also ask whether the list is for the centre or personal to the owner.

Plan for children ageing out

Every September, children move on to school or to the next room, and the youngest rooms must refill. Ask how the seller has handled that turnover in past years and which age groups fill most slowly. A centre with strong infant demand but few toddler spaces behaves very differently from one with the reverse. Ask the seller to walk you through the next twelve months of expected departures and starts.

Ask what you may see before closing

Parent privacy matters, so records may need to be anonymized or shown only late in the process. Ask for what the seller can share early and what must wait until a firm agreement and a confidentiality undertaking are in place. Your lawyer can advise on what personal information may be disclosed. Many buyers also ask to speak with the supervisor, who knows the real pattern of attendance day to day.