Alfredton contains 4 Long Day Care centres (447 places), 2 preschool/kindergarten facilities (147 places) and 1 OSHC facility (45 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population appearing favorable compared to national benchmarks, and above the Regional Vic. average. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 692 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.3 - placing the area among the top 30% nationally for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 1.8 children per place. Further breakdowns by age, to help in identifying the most in-need services, show moderate LDC provision across the infant and toddler cohort (<3yo) with 447 places across 4 facilities serving 477 children while preschool supply is moderate with 2 facilities providing 147 places (2.2 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional Vic. average of 2.0). With projected population growth of 47.8% between now and 2041, and 59.8% in the under 5 age group in particular, 231 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other drivers of note in the area are high female labour force participation of 65.3%.
In assessing child care markets local school supply is a particularly important factor, given school-run convenience, and enrolment vs child care place analysis can provide useful insight into capacity both for parents seeking child care options and child care operators assessing opportunities in an area. The catchment sees a level of school enrolment relative to population of 7.6 per 100 residents with 920 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. A lower-than-typical rate which suggests pressure might be taken off local services somewhat by school hubs in nearby areas. As expected, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is also lower than average. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being relatively in line with national benchmarks. Another finding worth noting is the low level of commercial activity in the area and assessment of local working populations which suggest many of the local population commute elsewhere for work with nearby services potentially taking some pressure off local child care centres.
6 school catchments intersect Alfredton (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 3,999 children aged under 5 reside, served by 4,395 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 0.9 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Alfredton and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.