Wilsonton contains 5 Long Day Care centres (606 places), 1 preschool/kindergarten facility (24 places) and 3 OSHC facilities (205 places), with overall provision relative to the local child population appearing favorable compared to national benchmarks, and above the Regional Qld average. Combined service provision across long day care and preschool/kindergarten services, and the approximate 360 children in the cohort, sees a ratio of children per place of 0.6 - placing the area among the top 20% nationally for supply per child. Looking at long day care specifically against the under-5 population, the ratio is 0.6 children per place (upper quintile supply). Further breakdowns by age, to help in identifying the most in-need services, show strong LDC provision for the infant and toddler cohort (<3yo) with 606 places across 5 facilities serving 213 children while preschool supply is similarly strong with 1 facility providing 24 places (5.9 children aged 3-4 per place compared to the Regional Qld average of 8.0). With projected population growth of 1.0% between now and 2041, and 6.4% in the under 5 age group in particular, 53 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 50.5%, 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 17.7 per 100 residents with 1,063 enrolments across primary and secondary institutions. This above-average concentration of school places suggests the area serves as something of a destination for educational services, which typically supports elevated childcare demand through school run convenience patterns. Additionally, the level of school places per child care place (LDC+PSK) is moderate. Out of school hours child care provision is similarly strong, with 205 places serving the 5-12 cohort. Proximity analysis saw distances of local residents to their nearest child care centre being relatively in line with national benchmarks.
6 school catchments intersect Wilsonton (note; school catchment data provided for public schools only), in which a combined 3,061 children aged under 5 reside, served by 2,220 LDC and preschool places. The overall demand-to-supply ratio across these catchments is 1.4 children per place, with moderate variance in this ratio.