School students in Singleton
In 2001, Singleton was home to 436 pre-schoolers, 2,302 infant and primary students and 1,561 high school students. Compared with 1996, preschool numbers increased by 102 while attendance at infants / primary school decreased by 48 and high school numbers increased by 58.
Singleton's overall school participation rates were similar to NSW's. For pre-school students, the participation rate was 63% (NSW's was 58%); for primary students, 93% (92%); and for high school students, 79% (83%).
These participation rates were calculated by dividing the number attending school by the school-age population. The most common ages of school students (in August, when the Census was taken) were 3–4 years old for pre-school; 5–11 for primary school and 12–17 for high school. Although children start and finish school at various ages, this 'participation rate' provides a good indicator of school attendance. * Lower participation rates at pre-school can indicate a shortage of pre-school places or a supply of alternative child care services. * Lower participation rates at primary school, when attendance is compulsory, suggests the student population was reduced by late-starters or young-finishers. * Lower rates for high school usually indicate more students leaving school before finishing Year 12. (Note that large numbers of visiting children can distort these numbers.)


Attendance at school		Number of students				Participation rates
Attendance at school		total	Public	Catholic	Private	Sing'n 2001	Sing'n 1996	NSW 2001
Pre-school		436				63%	44%	58%
Infants / Primary		2,302	1,798	440	64	93%	96%	92%
High school		1,561	1,129	360	72	79%	78%	83%
Participation rate = (no. of students) divided by (size of the matching student age group: 3-4; 5-11; 12-17)
Public and private schools in Singleton
In Singleton in 2001, 78% of primary students and 72% of secondary students attended public schools. These proportions were much higher than NSW's (71% and 64% respectively), but overall were pretty static, though trending differently, since 1996 (from 78% and 72% respectively).
Attendance at Catholic schools was at a generally similar rate to NSW. About 19% of primary students attended a Catholic school (similar to 20% across NSW), up by 31 since 1996; 23% of secondary students went to Catholic schools (23% for NSW), up by 23 since 1996.
Non-Catholic private schools attracted 3% of primary and 5% of secondary students, lower than NSW's rates of 9% and 13%. Since 1996, attendance at private secondary schools decreased by 10 while attendance at private primary schools decreased by 39.


Singleton's changing public / private mix	Infants / Primary school				High school
Singleton's changing public / private mix	Public	Catholic	Private	all schools	Public	Catholic	Private	all schools
Change in number, 1996–2001	down 40	up 31	down 39	down 48	up 45	up 23	down 10	up 58
Share in Singleton 2001	78%	19%	3%		72%	23%	5%
Share in Singleton 1996	78%	17%	4%		72%	22%	5%
Share in NSW 2001	71%	20%	9%		64%	23%	13%
Bold italic percents were high compared with NSW, underlined italic percents were low; Overseas visitors excluded.
Singleton's tertiary students
Singleton had a total of 1,137 people studying at university, TAFE or other tertiary places in 2001, with one-quarter attending full-time. The number of students was equivalent to 64% of the number of 18–24 year-olds living in Singleton, compared with 81% for NSW, suggesting Singleton has significantly lower participation in tertiary education. Participation in tertiary education amongst women was much greater than amongst men (equivalent to 81% of the 18–24 year-old female population, 52% of the male).
There were 329 university students (44% male and 56% female), an increase of 61 since 1996. About one-third of Singleton's university students attended full-time. The number of university students represented 18% of the 18–24 year old population.
About five-sixths of Singleton's 644 TAFE students attended part-time. The majority of students were women with 310 men to 334 women. TAFE numbers were equivalent to 36% of the 18–24 year old population.
Singleton's tertiary students were far less likely to be at university than NSW's, with 29% of students at university when the NSW proportion was 49%. They were far more likely to be at TAFE, attended by 57% of the student population compared with 40% for NSW.

Students at each type of tertiary education	Singleton 2001					1996	change since 1996
Students at each type of tertiary education	Full-time	Part-time	Men	Women	Total	1996	change since 1996
TAFE	98	546	310	334	644	647	(down 3)	0% lower
University /Tertiary	107	222	146	183	329	268	(up 61)	23% higher
Other education	62	102	87	77	164	96	(up 68)	71% higher
all institutions	267	870	543	594	1,137	1,011	(up 126)	12% higher

% of students at each type of tertiary education	Sing'n's students, 2001				% at each type of tertiary ed.			students as % of 18–24s
% of students at each type of tertiary education	Full-time :	Part-time	Men :	Women	Sing'n 2001	Sing'n 1996	NSW 2001	students as % of 18–24s
TAFE	15% :	85%	48% :	52%	57%	64%	40%	36%
University /Tertiary	33% :	67%	44% :	56%	29%	27%	49%	18%
Other education	38% :	62%	53% :	47%	14%	9%	11%	9%
all students	23% :	77%	48% :	52%	100%	100%	100%	64%
students as % of 18-24 year olds	15%	49%	52%	81%	64%	53%	81%
Bold italic percentages are high compared with NSW, underlined percents are low; Overseas visitors excluded. Some full/part-time status unstated
Singleton's education levels
The average number of years of school completed by adults is a good indicator of the overall education of a community. In Singleton, the average final year of school was Year 10.1 meaning a 'typical' adult left school after completing 10 years and 2 months. This was lower than NSW's average of 10 years and 5 months.
Some 27% of Singleton's adults completed Year 12, compared with 43% of NSW's adults. On the other hand, 24% of Singleton's adults left school before completing Year 10, similar to 21% across NSW. The Year 12 completion rate for men in Singleton was similar to women's.
Singleton's tertiary education levels were similar to NSW's, with 37% of people aged 15+ having a tertiary qualification, versus 40% for NSW. The biggest difference was in the number with a Certificate (24.0% of Singleton's adults compared with 18.0% of NSW's).
Since 1996, the fastest growing qualifications in Singleton were Certificates, up by 609, and Bachelor Degrees, up by 163.

Highest year of school completed	Singleton			% in Singleton			% in NSW	Sing'n's variation
Highest year of school completed	men	women	people	men	women	people	% in NSW	Sing'n's variation
no schooling	35	27	62	0.5%	0.4%	0.5%	1.4%	1% fewer
Year 8 or less	753	648	1,401	11%	10%	10%	10%	1% more
Year 9	877	883	1,760	12%	14%	13%	9%	3% more
Year 10	2,901	2,714	5,615	41%	42%	41%	30%	11% more
Year 11	653	427	1,080	9%	7%	8%	6%	2% more
Year 12	1,915	1,837	3,752	27%	28%	27%	43%	16% fewer
average final Year =	10.1 yrs	10.2 yrs	10.1 yrs				10.4 yrs
All people aged 15+ yrs old; overseas visitors excluded; 1996 data not comparable; percents that are high compared with NSW are bold on light green, low percents are bold on darker orange.
People with tertiary qualifications	number of people	change since 1996		% of population aged 15+				Sing'n's variation
People with tertiary qualifications	number of people	change since 1996		men	women	Sing'n	NSW	Sing'n's variation
Postgraduate Degree	95	(up 8)		0.8%	0.4%	0.7%	2.4%	2% fewer
Graduate Diploma / Certificate	118	(down 8)		0.5%	1.0%	0.9%	1.3%	0% fewer
Bachelor Degree	854	(up 163)		5.0%	6.2%	6.3%	11.1%	5% fewer
Advanced Diploma / Diploma	762	(down 170)		4.3%	5.8%	5.6%	6.8%	1% fewer
Certificate	3,274	(up 609)		30.3%	11.9%	24.0%	18.0%	6% more
Total with tertiary qualifications	5,103	(up 4,956)		41%	25%	37%	40%	2% fewer
Percentages that are high compared with NSW are bold on light green, percents that are low are bold on darker orange. Overseas visitors are excluded.
Fields of qualifications
The most common fields in which Singleton residents had tertiary or other non-school qualifications at July 2001 were Engineering and Related Technologies with around 2,000 people, followed by Management and Commerce with about 900, Health with about 500, Education with some 400 people, and Food, Hospitality and Personal Services with some 400 people.
Overall, 44% of Singleton people aged 15+ (50% of men and 38% of women) had tertiary qualifications in 2001, while NSW averaged 49%. The major variations from NSW were that training was more common in Engineering and Related Technologies, in Food, Hospitality and Personal Services and in Agriculture, Environmental & Related Studies; but less common in Management and Commerce and in Society and Culture.
Between the men and women of Singleton, the main differences were that women were more likely to be qualified in Management and Commerce; Health; Education; and Food, Hospitality and Personal Services. Men were more often qualified in Engineering and Related Technologies; Architecture and Building; Agriculture, Environmental & Related Studies; and Natural and Physical Sciences.

Fields of qualifications		number of people	change since 1996	% of population aged 15+				Sing'n's difference
Fields of qualifications		number of people	change since 1996	men	women	Sing'n	NSW	Sing'n's difference
Engineering and Related Technologies		2,155	(up 106)	26%	1%	14.1%	8.6%	5.5% more
Management and Commerce		943	(up 113)	3%	9%	6.2%	8.6%	2.5% less
Health		536	(up 46)	1%	6%	3.5%	3.9%	0.4% less
Education		400	(up 10)	1%	4%	2.6%	3.3%	0.7% less
Food, Hospitality and Personal Services		357	(not in '96)	2%	3%	2.3%	2.0%	0.3% more
Society and Culture		278	(down 9)	1%	2%	1.8%	3.9%	2.1% less
Architecture and Building		263	(down 20)	3%	0%	1.7%	2.8%	1.1% less
Agriculture, Environmental & Related Studies		168	(up 44)	1%	1%	1.1%	0.9%	0.2% more
Natural and Physical Sciences		117	(down 91)	1%	1%	0.8%	1.3%	0.5% less
Creative Arts		84	(not in '96)	0%	1%	0.6%	1.5%	0.9% less
Information Technology		77	(not in '96)	0%	1%	0.5%	1.2%	0.7% less
Mixed, unclear or unstated		1,363	(down 147)	9%	9%	8.9%	10.4%	1.4% less
total aged 15+		6,741	(up 570)	50%	38%	44%	49%	4.4% less
Bold italic percentages were high compared with , underlined italic percents were low. Larger male-female differences were boxed in yellow. Overseas visitors were excluded.
Computer use in Singleton
Computer usage in Singleton was similar to the NSW average, with 41% of the population (some 8,310 people) using a computer in the week preceding the 2001 Census, compared with 41% for NSW. The age group most different from NSW in computer usage was 20–34 years old, whose usage was 9 percentage points below NSW's, at 40%.
Computer usage among age groups ranged from a maximum of 62% among 10–19 years olds to the lowest usage of 3% among those aged 75+ years old.
Computer usage by males was generally greater than for females, and this difference tends to increase with age. However, in Singleton, 40% of males and 42% of females used a computer in 2001. The greatest gender difference was for people aged 20–34 years old, when 36% of the men use computers compared with 45% of the women.


Computer usage by age in Singleton	Number of users of each age				% of users in each age group
Computer usage by age in Singleton	used	not used	not stated	total	Sing'n females	Sing'n males	Sing'n	NSW
0–9 years	1,221	2,035	133	3,389	37%	35%	36%	32%
10–19 years	2,028	1,127	94	3,249	67%	58%	62%	67%
20–34 years	1,632	2,321	141	4,094	45%	36%	40%	49%
35–54 years	2,883	3,081	194	6,158	49%	45%	47%	47%
55–74 years	516	1,981	106	2,603	18%	21%	20%	21%
75+ years	26	731	40	797	2%	5%	3%	5%
all ages	8,306	11,276	708	20,290	42%	40%	41%	41%
Usage rates that are high compared with NSW are bold on light green, rates that are low are bold on darker orange. Major male-female differences are boxed and yellow. Overseas visitors are excluded
Internet usage in Singleton
About three-tenths of Singleton's people (30%) used the Internet each week in 2001, compared with 36% over NSW. Some 29% of women used the Internet, a similar proportion to men (30%).
The main places where people in Singleton used the Internet were from home (18%), from home and work (4%) and from work (4%). Compared with NSW, Singleton had similar proportions using the Internet from elsewhere (0.4 percentage points below NSW) but lower proportions using the Internet from home and work (2.4 percentage points below NSW).
Among home computer users, women more often used the Internet – about 44% of women and 42% of men who used a home computer accessed the Internet during the 2001 Census week. By way of comparison, among NSW's home computer users, 47% of women and 45% of men used the Internet.
Some 720 people used the Internet at work, representing 8% of the employed workforce of around 9,300. This was less than NSW's rate of 12%. Internet usage amongst male workers in Singleton was 7% while amongst female workers it was 9%.

Where the Internet is used	Number of users from each place			Proportion of users from each place
Where the Internet is used	Males	Females	Persons	Sing'n males	Sing'n females	Sing'n	NSW	difference
from home	1,745	1,824	3,569	17%	19%	18%	19%	1.3% lower
from work	398	317	715	4%	3%	4%	5%	1.9% lower
from home and work	539	337	876	5%	3%	4%	7%	2.4% lower
from elsewhere	283	260	543	3%	3%	3%	3%	0.4% lower
from several places	169	149	318	2%	2%	2%	2%	0.7% lower
Total Users	3,134	2,887	6,021	30%	29%	30%	36%	6.7% lower
Did not use the Internet	6,904	6,515	13,419	66%	67%	66%	59%	7.5% higher
Not stated	462	388	850	4%	4%	4%	5%	0.7% lower
total	10,500	9,790	20,290	100%	100%	100%	100%
			% of home computer users using the Internet	42%	44%	43%	46%	2.9% lower
Bold, light green-shaded percentages are high compared with NSW, darker-shaded orange percents are low. Table excludes overseas visitors.