Bungendore contains 2 Long Day Care centres (102 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (39 places) and 1 OSHC facility (50 places). Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 393 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 2.2 - placing the area slightly below the national average for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 3.0 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 102 places across 2 facilities serving 181 children while preschool supply is strong with 1 facility providing 39 places (3.1 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional NSW average of 4.4). With projected population growth of 46.3% between now and 2041, and 50.6% in the under 5 age group in particular, 133 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 73.4%, 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 12.2 per 100 residents with 648 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This middle-of-the-road rate of school supply suggests most local students are residents within the immediate area. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is moderate. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being longer than typical nationally while high fees are observed relative to 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.
4 school catchments intersect Bungendore (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 2,759 children aged under 5 reside, served by 1,711 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.6 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Bungendore and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.