Port Macquarie contains 16 Long Day Care centres (1,202 places), 2 preschool/kindergarten facilities (85 places) and 8 OSHC facilities (860 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population aligning with national benchmarks, though with certain cohorts and service types experiencing tighter provision. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 2,326 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.9 - placing the area around the national average for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 2.0 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 1,202 places across 16 facilities serving 1,460 children while preschool supply is constrained with 2 facilities providing 85 places (11.5 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional NSW average of 4.4). With projected population growth of 12.1% between now and 2041, and 15.5% in the under 5 age group in particular, 134 new places will be needed to maintain today's ratios. As well as this projected growth, other factors worth noting are lower female labour force participation of 50.3%, as well as lower than average 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 16.8 per 100 residents with 8,298 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.
7 school catchments intersect Port Macquarie (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 3,221 children aged under 5 reside, served by 3,521 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 0.9 children per place, with significant variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Port Macquarie and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.