Tregear contains 2 preschool/kindergarten facilities (79 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks, and is below the Greater Sydney average. With no LDC services observed in the area, only preschool, the ratio of children per place for the under 5 age group is 4.0 - placing the area among the bottom 20% nationally for supply per child. To meet the Greater Sydney average 86 new places would be required (LDC+PSK to service the under 5 age group). Meanwhile, projected population decline of 6.3% in the under 5 age group between now and 2041 suggests a reduction in demand for childcare services. Other factors relevant to demand worth noting are lower female labour force participation of 36.8%, 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 8.6 per 100 residents with 343 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. A lower-than-typical rate which suggests pressure might be taken off local services somewhat by school hubs in nearby areas. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is moderate. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being longer than typical nationally. Another finding worth noting is the low level of commercial activity in the area and assessment of local working populations which suggest many of the local population commute elsewhere for work with nearby services potentially taking some pressure off local child care centres.
9 school catchments intersect Tregear (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 8,204 children aged under 5 reside, served by 5,814 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.4 children per place, with significant variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Tregear and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.