Term Break Deep Cleaning
Childcare deep cleaning for centres, kinders and OSHC programs across Melbourne, booked for the school holidays or the summer shutdown, while every room can be cleared out. Carpets, walls, cots, toys, kitchens and outdoor areas are reset from top to bottom, and you get a signed log for the whole job. It sits on top of your regular cleaning; see how it fits alongside our regular childcare cleaning services.
A nightly clean keeps a room safe and presentable. A deep clean reaches the places nightly work never can, because furniture is in the way, children are due at 7 am, or a carpet needs a day to dry.
- Day 1Rooms emptied, carpets extracted, cots and toys washed
- Day 2Walls, high dusting, kitchen, outdoor, furniture back
- WWCC checkedHoliday crews included
- Police checkedEveryone on site
- $20M insuredCovers furniture moves
- Signed logRoom by room for the file
What is a childcare deep clean between terms?
A childcare deep clean is a once-a-term reset of the whole service while children are away. Every room is emptied, every surface is reached, and the building is handed back in the condition you would want an assessor, a new family or a new educator to see on day one.
The difference is access. During term, cleaners work around cots, shelving, furniture and a 7 am opening, so some jobs are simply never possible. Over a break, the furniture comes out, carpets can be extracted and left to dry, walls can be washed without anything in front of them, and high surfaces can be reached with ladders safely.
It is also the right time to catch what a busy term hides. Grout lines darken, skirting boards collect grime, soft furnishings absorb smells and the underside of every table builds up a film of old food. None of it is dangerous on its own, but together it is what makes a room look tired, and a tired room is hard to keep clean.
Centres that book a reset every term tend to find their nightly cleaning gets easier too, because the team is maintaining clean surfaces instead of fighting built-up ones.
- Carpets look grey even after vacuuming
- Dark lines in bathroom grout
- A lingering smell in the sleep room
- Sticky residue under tables and chairs
- Dust on vents, fans and light fittings
- Shelf toys that feel tacky in the hand
Ask for a walk-through before the break. We will tell you honestly whether the whole centre needs a reset or just two rooms and the carpets, and quote only what is worth doing.
What does a deep clean add to the daily scope?
It adds the jobs that need time, access or drying: carpet extraction, wall washing, high dusting, cot and mattress cleaning, a full toy wash, a kitchen clean-out and an outdoor reset. The table shows how each area changes between a normal night and the term break.
| Area | On a normal night | In the term break |
|---|---|---|
| Carpets and rugs | Vacuumed, spots treated | Hot-water extraction, then fans until fully dry |
| Hard floors | Swept and mopped | Machine scrubbed, edges and corners done by hand |
| Walls and doors | Marks spot-cleaned | Washed to child height, door frames and kick plates done |
| High surfaces | Not reached | Vents, fans, light fittings, tops of cupboards and ledges |
| Cots and sleep mats | Frames and covers wiped | Taken apart where possible, every surface washed and dried |
| Toys and resources | Mouthed toys and one shelf | Every toy washed, soft toys bagged for laundering |
| Kitchen | Benches, sink, handles | Fridge emptied and cleaned, behind appliances, rangehood filters |
| Outdoor areas | Tables and bins | Play equipment washed, sandpit turned, verandah scrubbed |
| Windows | Glass at child height | Tracks, sills, flyscreens and inside glass throughout |
Upholstered furniture in staff rooms and parent areas, curtains and soft reading cushions can be added. Everything we find broken or worn, such as a split cot mattress cover or a loose shelf bracket, goes on the log so it can be fixed before children return.
Carpet is where a deep clean earns its keep. Hot-water extraction pulls out the sand, food and dust that a vacuum leaves at the base of the pile, and it uses a low-residue detergent so there is nothing sticky left for crawling babies. The carpet then needs airflow to dry, which is why we run fans overnight and never extract on the last day before children come back.
Soft items are handled separately. Cushions, dress-ups, soft toys and curtains cannot be disinfected where they sit, so they are bagged and labelled by room for your laundry or a commercial service, and put back only once they are dry.
Which dates suit a term break deep clean?
Services that follow the school calendar have four holiday breaks a year to choose from, and long day care centres usually use the Christmas to New Year shutdown. Centres that never close can still have one over a long weekend, room by room. The earlier the date is held, the more choice you have.
| Victorian school break | Dates |
|---|---|
| Term 3 break, 2026 | Sat 19 September to Sun 4 October |
| Summer break, 2026 to 2027 | Sat 19 December to Tue 26 January |
| Term 1 break, 2027 | Fri 26 March to Sun 11 April |
| Term 2 break, 2027 | Sat 26 June to Sun 11 July |
| Term 3 break, 2027 | Sat 18 September to Sun 3 October |
| Long day care shutdown | Set by each centre, usually Christmas to New Year |
| Long weekends | One wing or two rooms at a time |
Worked out from the official Victorian school term dates. Kinders and OSHC usually follow these; long day care sets its own close-down.
- 8 weeks outDate held
We lock in the days and the crew, usually as soon as you approve the regular quote.
- 2 weeks outPack-down list sent
What educators should clear from shelves, cubbies and walls before they leave.
- Last dayRooms left ready
Personal items and artwork packed away, keys and alarm code confirmed.
- Clean daysThe reset
Usually one or two days, then carpets are left with fans to dry overnight.
- Before returnWalk-through and log
Furniture back in place, faults listed, the signed log in your folder.
Every service in Melbourne wants the first week of a break, so those days go quickly. If you are flexible about the second week, you will almost always get your first choice of date, and carpets have the rest of the holiday to settle.
Long day care is the hardest to fit, because many centres close only for the week or so around Christmas and New Year. We plan those resets months ahead and bring a larger crew, so the whole centre can be done in two days and still dry out before families return in early January.
Who carries out the deep clean?
Your regular cleaners lead it, joined by extra hands from our deep clean crew for the heavy jobs. That way the people who know your rooms decide where everything goes back, and the carpet machines and ladders come with staff trained to use them.
- 01Your usual team
They know which cupboard is locked, where the sleep mats live and how the teacher likes the kinder room left, so nothing is put back in the wrong place.
- 02A deep clean crew
Extra staff handle extraction, machine scrubbing and high work, which keeps the job to one or two days instead of dragging across the break.
- 03The same checks
Every person on site holds a current Working with Children Check and a police check, holiday staff included, and their names are sent to you before the first day.
If you do not use us for regular cleaning, a deep clean on its own is still welcome. We walk the centre with you first, photograph nothing that could identify a family, and agree a room order and a list of what stays untouched before any furniture moves.
How is a deep clean priced?
Deep cleans start from $380 for a small single-room service, and the price grows with the number of rooms, the amount of carpet and whether outdoor areas are included. You get a fixed written figure within 24 hours, with GST shown separately.
Centres that already use us for nightly cleaning often book all four breaks at once, which lets us hold the dates and plan the crew well ahead. A single booking for the year also means one purchase approval instead of four. What else moves the figure, and our starting prices for regular cleaning, are on the childcare cleaning prices page. To see how the deep clean fits our wider work, read about childcare cleaning across Melbourne.
- 1Tell us the roomsRoom count, carpet, outdoor areas and your break dates.
- 2Fixed priceOne figure for the whole reset, in writing.
- 3Date heldCrew and days reserved as soon as you say yes.
What do directors ask about deep cleans?
The three things every director wants to know before booking the holiday reset. Anything more specific, such as a heritage floor or a room that cannot be emptied, is best raised on the quote form.
01How long does it take?
02Can it happen over a weekend?
03From $380?
Start next term in a room that feels new.
Hold your break dates now, with a fixed price in writing.