Spencer Park contains 1 Long Day Care centre (45 places) and 1 OSHC facility (55 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks. With no preschool/kindergarten services observed in the area (such services generally provided within schools in WA), only long day care, the ratio of children per place for the under 5 age group is 3.8 - placing the area among the bottom 20% nationally for supply per child. With projected population growth of 10.3% between now and 2041, and 35.7% in the under 5 age group in particular, 21 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 46.0%, as well as lower 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 28.0 per 100 residents with 1,000 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. As expected, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is also higher than average. Rather unsurprisingly, out of school hours child care - serving school age children - was found to be much more abundant than other service types in the area.
1 school catchment intersects Spencer Park (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which 450 children aged under 5 reside, served by 45 LDC and preschool places. The demand-to-supply ratio for this catchment is 10.0 children per place.