Mill Park contains 7 Long Day Care centres (738 places), 7 preschool/kindergarten facilities (271 places) and 5 OSHC facilities (432 places). Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 1,401 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.4 - 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 738 places across 7 facilities serving 847 children while preschool supply is moderate with 7 facilities providing 271 places (2.1 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Greater Melbourne average of 2.6). With projected population growth of 25.5% between now and 2041, and 7.1% in the under 5 age group in particular, 63 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 15.2 per 100 residents with 4,438 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This above-average concentration of school places suggests the area serves as something of a destination for educational services, which typically supports elevated childcare demand through school run convenience patterns. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is moderate. Fee analysis shows fees are notably lower than national averages.
15 school catchments intersect Mill Park (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 6,660 children aged under 5 reside, served by 8,122 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 0.8 children per place, with significant variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Mill Park and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.