Safeguard Scilly Students - a campaign for regulated Post 16 accommodation

27/08/2026

AT WHAT POINT DOES “MORE WORK TO DO” BECOME A FAILURE TO ACT?

Another September is approaching, and another group of 16-year-olds from the Isles of Scilly will leave home because there is no post-16 education available to them on the islands.

This is not new.

The Council knows there is no meaningful post-16 provision on Scilly.

The Council knows daily travel to mainland colleges is not realistic.

The Council knows that, for many students, living on the mainland during term time is therefore unavoidable.

And the Council knows that the funding provided does not meet the cost of some regulated accommodation options.

For 2026/27, standard full-time boarding at Richard Huish College — the closest state college offering regulated residential accommodation — is £18,000.

The post-16 grant is £9,635.

That leaves a family finding £8,365 a year before travel and other additional costs — not because they have chosen private education or an optional extra, but because their child happens to live on the Isles of Scilly.

Meanwhile, host-family accommodation continues to form an important part of the alternative available to families, despite longstanding questions surrounding regulation, safeguarding, oversight and whether there will even be sufficient host-family capacity for future cohorts.

So where is the plan?

In December 2025, Full Council approved a strengthened representation to the Department for Education which was specifically to include, subject to consent, the lived experiences of young people gathered through the parent support group.

It is now August 2026.

Families are still being told that their lived experiences will be important to the development of the case.

Why was a resolution of Full Council not implemented as agreed?

We are also told that the Council wants greater openness and transparency and wants to reduce the need for Freedom of Information requests.

Yet on 10th August I asked straightforward questions about residual funding relating to the 2024/25 cohort.

The Chair of Council confirmed that the Chief Executive, Director of Children’s Services, Monitoring Officer and Head of SEND and Inclusion would be asked to look into them.

More than two weeks later, I still have no substantive answers.

Instead, I have now been told that the matter will be discussed again and that somebody will respond “in due course”.

These aren’t obscure historical questions. They concern public money allocated for post-16 students which the Council says has already been reconciled.

Why is it so difficult to obtain straightforward answers to straightforward questions?

Perhaps most troublingly, the Council’s latest public update chose to highlight the “significant officer and legal resource” required by legal proceedings and Freedom of Information requests relating to post-16 provision.

Lets remember, parents did not create Scilly’s geography.

Parents did not create a system in which children have to leave home at 16 to continue their education.

Parents did not decide the level of financial support.

And parents should not be portrayed as a drain on Council resources because they ask questions, request information or challenge decisions affecting their children.

Scrutiny is not the problem. The circumstances which make that scrutiny necessary are what need addressing.

For years we have heard about representations, discussions, meetings, further work, longer-term options and conversations with government.

But children only get one chance at being 16.

Another cohort is leaving now.

So I think three people with particular responsibility for this area — the Director of Children’s Services, the Lead Member for Children and Young People and the Chief Executive — should answer some very simple questions:

What is the plan?

When will every Scilly family have access to a post-16 arrangement that is safe, suitable and realistically affordable?

Why has a Full Council resolution concerning families’ lived experiences still not produced what Members resolved should happen?

Why are questions about already-reconciled 2024/25 funding still unanswered?

And if years of representations to government continue to produce insufficient funding, what does the Council intend to do then?

Because “we continue to explore” is not an outcome.

“In due course” is not a timescale.

And another generation of Scilly children should not be expected to absorb the consequences while everyone waits.

25/08/2026

POST-16 UPDATE

The Council has today published its summary of the Post-16 Parent Forum held on 12 August.

A few points from the update which may be of particular interest to families:

🔹 There will be no additional DfE funding uplift for our Post-16 students for 2026/27.

🔹 £44,555 of the 2024/25 DfE grant was returned as an underspend after fewer students than anticipated took up the funding.

🔹 The Council acknowledges the continuing gap between the grant and the actual cost of some mainland accommodation, and that financial pressures remain for families.

🔹 Early discussions are taking place with the Duchy of Cornwall about possible feasibility work for a boarding-house model in Cornwall. The Council stresses that this is currently exploratory, with no decisions or commitments made.

🔹 The update also provides further information about host families, including the Council’s current visits, oversight and DBS processes.

There is clearly still a great deal of work to be done to achieve a fair, safe and sustainable Post-16 solution for Isles of Scilly students, but greater transparency around these issues is welcome.

You can read the Council’s full update here:

Our Post-16 Parent Forum met again on Wednesday 12 August 2026. The meeting was attended by 2 parents, Cllr Joel Williams, Chairman of Council and Lead Member for Children, Cllr Lynn Blackwell, Sue Butcher, Director of People, Laura Thompson, Head of Education, Inclusion and Virtual School, and Lucy...

11/08/2026

We’ve produced a draft leaflet to explain the main elements of our Kinship Care Offer and we are inviting comments from the public on this document over the next 2 weeks. You can find the leaflet on the Children’s Policies page of our website, or simply click on the link below to read it in full...

05/08/2026

Not so many years ago a council officer and our then MP were requesting £15K per student per year to facilitate attendance at statutory required post 16 education/training, which for our islands students also necessitates term time accommodation. Despite all costs raising at an alarming rate students/families still have considerably less than this available.

This is all totally down to the failings, arrogance and incompetence of those Officers who are paid a LOT of money for their role which includes safe guarding childen. And also failures by MANY council members who have been led by Officers and not spoken up to question advice and decisions.

Council members have agreed, and approved £2.1M towards the Town Hall “development” which is non-statutory, and a building, yet have done everything in their power to obstruct, fail to deliver and actively fight against, funding towards a STATUTORY duty which also involves SAFE GUARDING children.

How can the Council CEO, who is ALSO the 151/monitoring officer, plus Council Members recommend, agree and “find” £2.1 million for bricks and mortar (on sand “foundations”, in a flood risk area) yet not recommend, agree and “find” funding for a STATUTORY duty, which includes SAFE GUARDING CHILDREN.

19/07/2026

Whilst things may have seemed a little quieter on social media recently, please don’t mistake that for inactivity.

Behind the scenes, a huge amount of work has still been taking place. Meetings, correspondence, reviewing documents, gathering evidence and continuing to push for the changes our young people deserve.

Things are moving on. Issues that were once dismissed are now being openly discussed, including safeguarding, pastoral support, communication with families and the reality that most Isles of Scilly students have no choice but to live away from home in order to access post-16 education.

That is progress.

But progress is not the same as a solution.

Families are still facing costs that mainland families simply do not have to bear. Accommodation is still a necessity, not a choice. Students should be free to choose the course that best suits their ambitions, and the accommodation that is right for them. This choice should not be dictated by geography or affordability.

We will continue to challenge where challenge is needed, acknowledge progress where it is made, and work constructively with anyone who genuinely wants to improve opportunities for Isles of Scilly students.

As we move into the next stage of the campaign, we’ll continue to need the support of our community in a number of ways. Every message, every conversation and every offer of help makes a real difference.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far. We are not going away, and neither is this campaign.






Department for Education
Michael Charles Andrew George Cornwall Live BBC Cornwall Daily Express ITV News West Country

03/07/2026

This is a really important debate and one that highlights the challenges many young people face in accessing further education in rural areas.

For Isles of Scilly students, those challenges go even further. For most, travelling to college each day simply isn’t possible, meaning they must live away from home during term time in order to access post-16 education.

That is why our campaign continues to call for a fair system that recognises the additional barriers faced by Isles of Scilly families, ensuring students can choose the course that best meets their aspirations, with safe, suitable accommodation and appropriate support to enable that choice.

Thank you to Jayne Kirkham for Truro and Falmouth for raising the wider issue of access to further education in Parliament.

Thank you also to Andrew George MP for continuing to champion the needs of Isles of Scilly students. I hope the growing focus on access to further education will help secure a fairer system for our young people.

23/06/2026

I was very pleased to once again have the opportunity to meet with Andrew George MP to discuss some of the post-16 challenges facing Isles of Scilly families and students.

It was particularly reassuring to hear safeguarding and pastoral support at the forefront of discussions. These are issues that parents have been raising for many years and it is encouraging to see them receiving greater attention.

Andrew also highlighted something that should concern us all. Our young people consistently achieve excellent results at GCSE level, yet this success does not always continue into post-16 education.

This is something that deserves further investigation. We should be asking whether the current arrangements are giving our students the support, stability and opportunities they need to fulfil their potential.

Geography should never limit a young person’s educational opportunities or future success.

17/06/2026

Here is the funding the Council of the Isles of Scilly returned to the ESFA/DfE between 2018 and 2023.

A total of £225,987.28 was returned, despite many Isles of Scilly families facing substantial unavoidable costs in order for their children to access post-16 education on the mainland.

For families living elsewhere, choosing a college normally means a daily commute. For Isles of Scilly students, it normally means finding accommodation away from home from the age of 16.

Many families have spent thousands of pounds above the available grant. Some have relied on host families or private family arrangements because they were the only affordable option.

Host family arrangements work extremely well for some young people and families, and many students have had positive experiences. However, they are not suitable for everyone.

Families should have a genuine choice of safe, appropriate accommodation options. No young person should be limited to a particular arrangement simply because their family cannot afford an alternative.

The key question remains: if families were incurring significant additional costs and accommodation choice was being constrained by affordability, how was it determined that funding could be returned while those needs remained unmet?

13/06/2026

Next week’s Full Council agenda includes a request to approve up to £794,320 of additional borrowing for the Town Hall redevelopment project.

At the same time, councillors continue to consider post-16 education, where officers have acknowledged that:

• most Isles of Scilly students must live on the mainland during term time to access post-16 education
• accommodation is therefore a practical necessity rather than a choice for most families
• many families continue to face substantial unavoidable travel and accommodation costs
• no assessment has been undertaken of the actual debt or out-of-pocket costs incurred by affected families

There also remains ongoing uncertainty regarding the residual 2024/25 post-16 funding. As many people will be aware, concerns have been raised about the possibility of this funding being returned to the Department for Education despite many families remaining significantly out of pocket for costs already incurred in enabling their children to access education.

Many residents may reasonably ask whether every available opportunity has been explored to support those families before any funding is returned and it is reasonable to ask how the Council prioritises its resources when local families continue to bear substantial financial costs simply to access educational opportunities that mainland families can reach from home.

For Isles of Scilly students, accommodation is not a choice, it is a necessity.