Hughes contains 1 Long Day Care centre (27 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (23 places) and 1 OSHC facility (133 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks, and is below the Australian Capital Territory average, though with certain cohorts and service types experiencing tighter provision. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 157 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 3.2 - placing the area among the bottom 30% nationally for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 5.9 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 27 places across 1 facility serving a total of 95 children while preschool supply is moderate with 1 facility providing 23 places (2.7 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Australian Capital Territory average of 2.5). To meet the Australian Capital Territory average 68 new places would be required (LDC+PSK to service the under 5 age group). Meanwhile, projected population decline of 6.4% 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 strong 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 13.7 per 100 residents with 433 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This middle-of-the-road rate of school supply suggests most local students are residents within the immediate area. 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. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being shorter than average while fees are notably lower than national averages.
9 school catchments intersect Hughes (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 6,371 children aged under 5 reside, served by 12,533 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 0.5 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Hughes and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.