S.T.A.R.S stands for Striving for excellence, Target a play-based approach, Accountable to children, parents, yourselves, Responsive to the individuals needs of the child, Safe and Healthy (Environment).
S.T.A.R.S rating on Certificates and Licences is the Child Care Regulation Programmes health, safety, and overall development scoring programme that displays the results of DCP and DCC annual inspections in STAR grade format – 3, 4 or 5 on their day care certificate or licence.
Started in 2022 for DCP’s and 2023 for DCC’s, the publication of grades will let the public know how well Bermuda’s day care establishments, including DCP’s – those caring for a maximum of 3 children in the residence and DCC – larger facilities caring for 4 or more children, are meeting all minimum child care requirements as well as those choosing to meet higher standards in accordance with the Children Act 1998, Day Care Centre Regulations 1999 and Child Care Standards 2018.
Annual inspections are unannounced. Child Care Regulation officers score the day care establishment on items such as health, safety, supervision, developmental activities, and parent & family engagement using a standard inspection form.
“5 STARS” equates to 90-100%, “4 STARS” equates to 80-89% and “3 STARS” equates to 70-79 %. Any STAR rating that is below 70 % with critical violations must be corrected immediately to remove an imminent risk to the children. The establishment will be given a corrective monitoring plan and a re-evaluated with take place within a 3 month period. Those with “1 STARS” equates to below 59% are placed on a provisional certificate/licence.
DCP’s are evaluated on 12 areas while DCC’s are evaluated on 15 areas. Each item on the tool has an assigned point value. When there’s a violation, inspection points are deducted from the score. Points are deducted from that score based on significance (eg continuous supervision is a critical item); deductions from two or more critical items will result in a reduction of the STARS rating. The higher number of points a day care establishment scores overall, the better the STARS rating attained.
Annually issued day care certificates/licences, must be prominently displayed inside establishments, and will show the most recent STARS rating.
All DCP and DCC STARS summary reports are available here:
New providers/centres will automatically be under review for the first 3 to 6 months, and an inspection will be conducted within a year.