Dutton Park contains 1 Long Day Care centre (59 places) and 2 OSHC facilities (195 places). With no preschool/kindergarten services observed in the area, only long day care, the ratio of children per place for the under 5 age group is 1.6 - placing the area above the national average for supply per child. Projected population decline of 1.4% 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 68.3%.
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 60.5 per 100 residents with 1,624 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. As expected, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is also higher 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. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being shorter than average while high fees are observed despite adequate supply suggesting premium positioning or quality differentiation.
3 school catchments intersect Dutton Park (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 2,067 children aged under 5 reside, served by 1,582 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.3 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio.