Cronulla contains 3 Long Day Care centres (141 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (60 places) and 3 OSHC facilities (258 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks, and is below the Greater Sydney 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 804 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 4.2 - 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 6.0 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 141 places across 3 facilities serving a total of 508 children while preschool supply is strong with 1 facility providing 60 places (5.7 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Greater Sydney average of 8.3). To meet the Greater Sydney average 243 new places would be required (LDC+PSK to service the under 5 age group). Meanwhile, projected population decline of 22.0% 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 strong 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 5.1 per 100 residents with 953 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. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is moderate. 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. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being shorter than average 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.
6 school catchments intersect Cronulla (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 3,104 children aged under 5 reside, served by 1,348 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 2.3 children per place, with significant variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Cronulla and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.