Elanora contains 3 Long Day Care centres (210 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (24 places) and 1 OSHC facility (120 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks, and is below the Regional Qld average. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 835 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 3.6 - 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 4.0 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 210 places across 3 facilities serving a total of 502 children while preschool supply is similarly constrained with 1 facility providing 24 places (14.0 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional Qld average of 8.0). To meet the Regional Qld average 210 new places would be required (LDC+PSK to service the under 5 age group). Meanwhile, with projected population growth of 11.0% between now and 2041, and 21.1% in the under 5 age group in particular, not considering current depressed supply, 48 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. Socioeconomic performance in the area in the way of income and employment figures, including female workforce participation, are broadly in line with national averages.
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 14.3 per 100 residents with 1,895 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.
7 school catchments intersect Elanora (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 5,728 children aged under 5 reside, served by 4,223 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.4 children per place, with moderate variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Elanora and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.