Thabeban contains 1 Long Day Care centre (74 places) and 1 OSHC facility (80 places). 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 2.3 - placing the area below the national average for supply per child. With projected population growth of 6.0% between now and 2041, and 20.3% in the under 5 age group in particular, 28 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 48.9%, 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 18.1 per 100 residents with 553 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. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is moderate. 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. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being longer than typical nationally while fees are notably lower than national averages.
5 school catchments intersect Thabeban (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 4,025 children aged under 5 reside, served by 2,540 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.6 children per place, with moderate variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Thabeban and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.