Epsom contains 2 Long Day Care centres (222 places) and 1 OSHC facility (80 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population aligning with national benchmarks, though below the Regional Vic. average. 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 1.9 - placing the area around the national average for supply per child. With projected population growth of 45.7% between now and 2041, and 49.9% in the under 5 age group in particular, 129 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other drivers of note in the area are high female labour force participation of 64.4%.
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 8.6 per 100 residents with 461 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. Fee analysis shows high fees are observed relative to national benchmarks.
6 school catchments intersect Epsom (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 7,827 children aged under 5 reside, served by 7,718 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.0 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Epsom and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.