Bulimba contains 2 Long Day Care centres (166 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (50 places) and 1 OSHC facility (255 places). Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 352 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.6 - placing the area above the national average for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 2.1 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 166 places across 2 facilities serving 206 children while preschool supply is strong with 1 facility providing 50 places (2.7 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Greater Brisbane average of 11.1). Projected population decline of 9.4% in the under 5 age group between now and 2041 suggests a reduction in demand for childcare services. Other factors relevant to demand worth noting are high female labour force participation of 67.9%, as well as upper 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 8.0 per 100 residents with 660 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. Rather unsurprisingly, out of school hours child care - serving school age children - was found to be much more abundant than other service types in the area. Fee analysis shows high fees are observed despite adequate supply suggesting premium positioning or quality differentiation.
4 school catchments intersect Bulimba (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 2,753 children aged under 5 reside, served by 2,668 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.0 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Bulimba and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.