Kensington contains 6 Long Day Care centres (316 places) and 2 OSHC facilities (225 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 1.4 - placing the area above the national average for supply per child. With projected population growth of 27.8% between now and 2041, and 20.4% in the under 5 age group in particular, 65 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. Socioeconomic performance in the area in the way of income and employment figures, including female workforce participation, are broadly in line with national averages.
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 10.7 per 100 residents with 1,570 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. Out of school hours child care provision is similarly strong, with 225 places serving the 5-12 cohort. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being shorter than average while high fees are observed despite adequate supply suggesting premium positioning or quality differentiation.
11 school catchments intersect Kensington (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 14,850 children aged under 5 reside, served by 14,016 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 Kensington and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.