Macleod contains 3 Long Day Care centres (258 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (51 places) and 3 OSHC facilities (219 places). Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 522 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.6 - 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 1.9 children per place. Further breakdowns by age, to help in identifying the most in-need services, show moderate LDC provision across the infant and toddler cohort (<3yo) with 258 places across 3 facilities serving 289 children while preschool supply is constrained with 1 facility providing 51 places (3.8 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Greater Melbourne average of 2.6). With projected population growth of 43.9% between now and 2041, and 18.8% in the under 5 age group in particular, 85 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other drivers of note in the area are 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 12.6 per 100 residents with 1,339 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.
14 school catchments intersect Macleod (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 5,710 children aged under 5 reside, served by 6,003 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.0 children per place, with moderate variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Macleod and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.