Every ranked provider list and “at a glance” figure on HeadStart Academy is calculated from the official CRICOS register snapshot (1 April 2026), not from paid placement. This page is the methodology behind those numbers.
On city, state, field×city and level×state pages we show a shortlist of providers ranked by active (non-expired) CRICOS course coverage that matches the page filter (location and, where relevant, field of education).
expired ≠ Yes and delivery location matches the city/state (and field, when the page is a field page).This is a coverage ranking for planning shortlists — not a quality rating, star score, or endorsement of teaching outcomes.
Register snapshots count non-expired courses and distinct providers for the page filter, then summarise fee and duration percentiles only where the register lists numeric fee/duration fields. Missing fees are excluded from min/median/max — we never invent them.
Pages are not “same paragraph, swap the city name.” Each page joins:
Two neighbouring cities therefore show different provider shortlists, course counts, fee bands and internal links because the underlying joins return different rows.
Payment does not affect ranking or inclusion. HeadStart Academy does not sell sponsored slots on ranked lists. We may show advertising (for example Google AdSense) on some pages; that is separate from provider ordering. We do not take referral fees from education providers for placements listed here.
Rankings and counts are recalculated on each site build from the April 2026 CRICOS snapshot. When a newer public CRICOS export is ingested, pages are rebuilt and the visible “recalculated this build” date updates. Schema dateModified tracks the same build.
Related: Is HeadStart Academy legit? · About & editorial standards · Disclaimer
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026.