Kirwan contains 10 Long Day Care centres (802 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (24 places) and 3 OSHC facilities (399 places). Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 1,273 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.5 - placing the area above the national average for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 1.6 children per place (upper quintile supply). Further breakdowns by age, to help in identifying the most in-need services, show strong LDC provision for the infant and toddler cohort (<3yo) with 802 places across 10 facilities serving 760 children while preschool supply is constrained with 1 facility providing 24 places (21.1 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional Qld average of 8.0). With projected population growth of -3.5% between now and 2041, and 3.7% in the under 5 age group in particular, 31 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other factors worth noting are lower than average employment 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 25.8 per 100 residents with 5,488 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This notably elevated rate of school supply suggests many students travel to the area from beyond the immediate surrounds, typically amplifying local childcare demand given school-run proximity. 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 399 places serving the 5-12 cohort. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being shorter than average.
8 school catchments intersect Kirwan (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 5,953 children aged under 5 reside, served by 6,025 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.0 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Kirwan and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.