Villawood contains 2 Long Day Care centres (79 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (20 places) and 1 OSHC facility (59 places), while overall provision relative to the local child population appears limited compared to national benchmarks, and is below the Greater Sydney average, though with certain cohorts and service types experiencing tighter provision. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 505 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 5.1 - placing the area among the bottom 20% nationally for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 6.4 children per place (lower quintile supply). Further breakdowns by age, to help in identifying the most in-need services, show an undersupply of LDC places across the infant and toddler cohort (<3yo) with just 79 places across 2 facilities serving a total of 303 children while preschool supply is moderate with 1 facility providing 20 places (10.2 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Greater Sydney average of 8.3). To meet the Greater Sydney average 180 new places would be required (LDC+PSK to service the under 5 age group). Meanwhile, with projected population growth of 14.5% between now and 2041, and 4.2% in the under 5 age group in particular, not considering current depressed supply, 3 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 30.0%, 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 9.7 per 100 residents with 768 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. Out of school hours child care provision is similarly constrained, with 59 places for the 5-12 cohort. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being shorter than average while fees are notably lower than national averages.
6 school catchments intersect Villawood (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 6,398 children aged under 5 reside, served by 2,363 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 2.7 children per place, with significant variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Villawood and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.