Kembla Grange contains 1 Long Day Care centre (36 places) and 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (16 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks, and is below the Regional NSW average. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 399 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 4.7 - 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 6.8 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 36 places across 1 facility serving a total of 147 children while preschool supply is similarly constrained with 1 facility providing 16 places (6.1 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional NSW average of 4.4). To meet the Regional NSW average 146 new places would be required (LDC+PSK to service the under 5 age group). Meanwhile, with projected population growth of 91.2% between now and 2041, and 90.5% in the under 5 age group in particular, not considering current depressed supply, 109 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 73.2%, as well as strong income performance.
Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being relatively in line with national benchmarks.
9 school catchments intersect Kembla Grange (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 5,552 children aged under 5 reside, served by 2,721 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 2.0 children per place, with moderate variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Kembla Grange and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.