Edgeworth contains 2 Long Day Care centres (183 places), 2 preschool/kindergarten facilities (40 places) and 2 OSHC facilities (184 places). Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 496 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 2.6 - placing the area below the national average for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 3.2 children per place (lower quintile supply). 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 183 places across 2 facilities serving 349 children while preschool supply is constrained with 2 facilities providing 40 places (5.8 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional NSW average of 4.4). With projected population growth of 49.7% between now and 2041, and 48.8% in the under 5 age group in particular, 59 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other factors worth noting are lower than average 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 16.6 per 100 residents with 1,351 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This above-average concentration of school places suggests the area serves as something of a destination for educational services, which typically supports elevated childcare demand through school run convenience patterns. 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.
10 school catchments intersect Edgeworth (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 8,318 children aged under 5 reside, served by 7,258 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.1 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Edgeworth and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.