Lovely Banks contains 1 Long Day Care centre (130 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population appearing favorable compared to national benchmarks, and above the Regional Vic. average. 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 1.3 - placing the area among the top 30% nationally for supply per child. With projected population growth of 22.7% between now and 2041, and 39.6% in the under 5 age group in particular, 27 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other factors worth noting are high female labour force participation of 64.4%, as well as 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 11.5 per 100 residents with 310 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. Fee analysis shows high fees are observed despite adequate supply suggesting premium positioning or quality differentiation.
9 school catchments intersect Lovely Banks (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 12,010 children aged under 5 reside, served by 12,799 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 0.9 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Lovely Banks and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.