Wightlink supports the Isle of Wight’s looked-after children

Wightlink is helping young people under the care of the Isle of Wight Council to access further education opportunities on the mainland.

The new partnership between Wightlink and the council will provide young people with Wightlink travel passes to enable them to commute to a mainland college which offers specialist courses currently unavailable on the Isle of Wight. Up to five young people are expected to be supported each year.

The individuals to benefit from the new arrangement are all ‘looked-after children’, which means they are under the council’s care because their family has experienced difficulties or because of illness or loss of a parent.

Councillor Paul Brading, Cabinet member for Children’s Services, says: “I would like to express our thanks to Wightlink for their generous sponsorship of our young people. As a local authority we hope to be able to offer every young person in our care the opportunity to access the very best educational provision. Through this partnership with Wightlink we hope to support more young people in our care to attend specialist courses of their choice which aren’t currently available on the Island.”

Wightlink Chief Executive Keith Greenfield adds, “As a company, we already support young Islanders, through working with The Youth Trust and providing discounted travel to gifted sportspeople through the council’s Talented Athlete scheme.

“We are delighted to extend this support to include young people looked after by the local authority to help them further their aspirations by assisting them with travel to attend specialist courses on the mainland.”

For more information, contact Karen Woods on 07775 694266 or [email protected]