Jerrabomberra contains 3 Long Day Care centres (285 places) and 2 OSHC facilities (127 places). 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 2.4 - placing the area below the national average for supply per child. With projected population growth of 4.2% between now and 2041, and 7.7% in the under 5 age group in particular, 1 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 74.9%, as well as upper quartile employment and 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 11.3 per 100 residents with 1,085 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. Assessment shows 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.
10 school catchments intersect Jerrabomberra (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 7,971 children aged under 5 reside, served by 6,581 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.2 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Jerrabomberra and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.