Ashmont contains 2 Long Day Care centres (146 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (40 places) and 1 OSHC facility (24 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population appearing favorable compared to national benchmarks, and above the Regional NSW average. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 322 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.4 - 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 146 places across 2 facilities serving 154 children while preschool supply is strong with 1 facility providing 40 places (2.6 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional NSW average of 4.4). With projected population growth of 3.1% between now and 2041, and 11.8% in the under 5 age group in particular, 72 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other factors worth noting are lower female labour force participation of 42.4%, as well as lower quartile employment and income performance.
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 15.0 per 100 residents with 539 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This above-average concentration of school places suggests the area serves as something of a destination for educational services, which typically supports elevated childcare demand through school run convenience patterns. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is lower than average.
6 school catchments intersect Ashmont (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 4,479 children aged under 5 reside, served by 3,083 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.5 children per place, with moderate variance in this ratio.