Wagaman contains 1 Long Day Care centre (53 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (44 places) and 1 OSHC facility (70 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population appearing favorable compared to national benchmarks, and above the Greater Darwin average. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 114 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 1.2 - placing the area among the top 30% nationally for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 2.2 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 53 places across 1 facility serving 69 children while preschool supply is strong with 1 facility providing 44 places (1.1 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Greater Darwin average of 2.4). Projected population decline of 1.8% in the under 5 age group between now and 2041 suggests a reduction in demand for childcare services. Socioeconomic performance in the area in the way of income and employment figures, including female workforce participation, are broadly in line with national averages.
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 10.9 per 100 residents with 231 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This middle-of-the-road rate of school supply suggests most local students are residents within the immediate area. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is lower 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. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being shorter than average while high fees are observed despite adequate supply suggesting premium positioning or quality differentiation. 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.
7 school catchments intersect Wagaman (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 2,986 children aged under 5 reside, served by 4,566 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 0.7 children per place, with limited variance in this ratio. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in this ratio between Wagaman and the intersecting school catchments highlights the need for a catchment based approach for specific site assessments.