Geelong West contains 2 Long Day Care centres (273 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (68 places) and 2 OSHC facilities (140 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population aligning with national benchmarks, though below the Regional Vic. average, with certain cohorts and service types experiencing tighter provision. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 654 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.8 - placing the area around the national average for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 2.2 children per place. 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 273 places across 2 facilities serving 366 children while preschool supply is constrained with 1 facility providing 68 places (3.6 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional Vic. average of 2.0). With projected population growth of 31.2% between now and 2041, and 37.9% in the under 5 age group in particular, 162 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 66.7%.
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 8.1 per 100 residents with 674 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. As expected, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is also lower than average. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being relatively in line with national benchmarks while high fees are observed relative to national benchmarks. 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.
8 school catchments intersect Geelong West (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 11,905 children aged under 5 reside, served by 11,179 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 Geelong West and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.