In Practice: Case Study - Reaching out to island dwellers

Objectives Schools on the Isles of Scilly, which is located 28 miles off the Cornish coast, are free from many of the problems that their mainland counterparts have to confront. There hasn't been an unplanned teenage pregnancy in 16 years and truancy is almost non-existent.

But geographical isolation looms large. While the 1,700 people on the largest island of St Mary's have access to most core services, the 400 residents of the four other islands - Tresco, St Martin's, Bryher and St Agnes - are more cut off. Scilly's council decided to use its £250,000 annual extended schools' budget to ensure more equality of access, so that a child living on outlying islands did not suffer disadvantage.

What was done? Investment in the islands' community centres was a priority. Despite being the hubs of their communities, the St Agnes centre lacked running water or a toilet and Bryher's community hall was falling down. So around £130,000 of the extended schools budget was devoted to upgrading facilities.

Parent and toddler groups now meet in the revamped centres, GPs hold surgeries and JobCentrePlus has access to the sites.

The council also started outreach work to bring services to children and parents. A family support worker, laden with a bag of games and toys, visits community centres on all the islands by boat. "They wear a winter coat and we stick a life jacket on them and they go out onto the dark and stormy seas," says extended schools officer Joel Williams.

The council also pays boat fees to enable families to attend its weekly baby club on St Mary's, which is intended to reduce social isolation.

Issues Services intended to reach isolated communities are never going to achieve economies of scale, but because Scilly has a relatively old population, the council decided that it needed to invest in young people and families to maintain a growing community.

"It's hugely expensive to deliver some of these services but it's also vital that we do," says Williams. "What we don't do is purely count the pennies. We also look at the outcomes that are being generated."

Outcomes Social isolation has been reduced as young people and families have become more mobile between the islands. The St Agnes primary school has only three boys in the school, but, thanks to funding from the extended schools budget, they now visit the school on St Mary's on Wednesday afternoons to play football. Families have more access to professionals such as health visitors and GPs. The islanders are becoming more aware of the availability of benefits such as childcare.

TOP TIPS

Do

• Communicate. Advertise services by email, post and especially phone. Be prepared to invite people individually
• Be proactive about taking services to families. Outreach services that meet individual needs of families are vital
• Be flexible about national guidelines. Policies written for mainly urban areas may need to be re-interpreted

Don't

• Plan too rigidly. Be flexible in planning events as the weather can intervene
• Assume everybody knows each other in small communities