Cooktown contains 1 Long Day Care centre (37 places) and 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (23 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks, and is below the Regional Qld average, though with certain cohorts and service types experiencing tighter provision. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 185 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 4.1 - placing the area among the bottom 20% nationally for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 6.6 children per place (lower quintile supply). Further breakdowns by age, to help in identifying the most in-need services, show an undersupply of LDC places across the infant and toddler cohort (<3yo) with just 37 places across 1 facility serving a total of 146 children while preschool supply is strong with 1 facility providing 23 places (4.3 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional Qld average of 8.0). To meet the Regional Qld average 38 new places would be required (LDC+PSK to service the under 5 age group). Meanwhile, with projected population growth of 8.7% between now and 2041, and 22.7% in the under 5 age group in particular. As well as this projected growth, other factors worth noting are lower female labour force participation of 52.5%.
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 19.8 per 100 residents with 631 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This notably elevated rate of school supply suggests many students travel to the area from beyond the immediate surrounds, typically amplifying local childcare demand given school-run proximity. 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 fees are notably lower than national averages. 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.
5 school catchments intersect Cooktown (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 385 children aged under 5 reside, served by 170 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 2.3 children per place, with moderate variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Cooktown and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.