Carole Stott, director and chair, Association of Colleges

In the office of Carole Stott’s mentor and university lecturer Gerard Boynton, there was a sign hanging up that read: “All we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

It is a motto that Stott, now chair of Skills Show organisers Find a Future, director and chair of the Association of Colleges (AoC) board and chair of governors at City of Bath College, says she’s seen reflected in her own career.

“I want to do things that make a difference, that are worthwhile. You want to do something that rocks your boat,” she tells me as we sit down in Find a Future’s offices, overlooking the rooftops of Victoria.

The people who are making the policy are the ones who actually influence what you can and can’t do as a teacher

And her enthusiasm for her various roles in the skills sector is obvious — her eyes light up as she looks forward to the Skills Show this week (which will also see Stott’s 63rd birthday).

She originally trained as an English teacher, partly inspired by being asked by her own teachers to explain concepts to the class.

“I love that feeling — when you feel you’ve grasped something and understood it,” she says.

“There’s nothing better in education than actually understanding — that’s what it’s all about, the joy of understanding.”

At home, in Bury, then part of Lancashire, she says, the three most important things were “hard work, education, family” — her parents, Kathleen and Jack, who had both left school at 14, “suffered from their lack of education”.

“I came from a very working class background,” she says.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back, we were quite poor — but my parents were very respectable, and that was really important to them.”

Both Stott and older brother Ken, her only sibling, passed the 11-plus and went to grammar school, something Stott says her parents saw as part of “the route to a better life”.

Despite this, Stott has no nostalgia for the grammar school system. “I might have just sunk at a secondary modern, but I think if there had been comprehensives, then I think I’d have probably done just as well,” she says.

“People sometimes see grammar schools as the only solution to social mobility and I just don’t believe that — I think bright kids in a good comprehensive can do just as well.

“I hate the idea that it’s decided at the age of 11 that you’re not very bright and you’re going to be classified like that.”

Stott left Bury at 18 to study English and drama teaching at St Mary’s in Twickenham and her final teaching training placement at a girls’ school in Surrey led to a job.

She married shortly after leaving university and spent the next few years moving from London to Bristol, to Devon, to Coventry.

Unfortunately, she says, “there was suddenly a dearth of jobs and an oversupply of teachers.”

As a result, Stott spent seven years looking after her two small children, Laura, born 1979, and James, born in 1982, and supply teaching, until an offhand comment led her to FE.

“In Devon, our next door neighbour was a head of department at a local FE college and he said to me: ‘You ought to think about teaching in further education, I think you’d like it’,” she says.

After moving to Coventry, Stott followed his advice, taking up a part-time lecturing job at Tile Hill College (now City College Coventry).

After four years there, Stott noticed Warwick University was offering part-time degrees for FE lecturers and although it was only supposed to be for full-time lecturers, Stott says she “pestered them until they said yes”.

Stott describes the experience as “transformational”.

“I enjoyed lecturing but that got me really interested in policy and curriculum and all of those issues,” she says.

“It made me realise you do stuff in the classroom but then the people who are making the policy are the ones who actually influence what you can and can’t do as a teacher,” she said.

Stott came to FE without any specific FE qualifications, and was in the minority as a qualified teacher — but she remains ambivalent about the issue.

“I think it’s good for people to aim to be qualified,” she says.

“But I think that idea of having qualifications in the area you’re teaching is equally important, and I don’t think we should put the emphasis on the teacher qualification at the expense of the emphasis on the other.”

On finishing a degree she was faced with a choice between a secure, full-time lecturing or a project-funded policy job at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace).

Enthusiasm won, and she took the Niace role supporting unemployed adults.

After the funding dried up, Stott found herself interviewing for a job setting up the Central Access Network — the day after The Further and Higher Education Bill 1992 was published, proposing to turn colleges into corporations.

“I read this bill and thought: ‘well, the local authority isn’t going to want to fund this.’ The only way this is going to work is if we get the colleges to take ownership of this,” she says.

“And it was great — it was a really good model where we got all the colleges, the two universities and the local authority to work together.”

The job also provided Stott with some valuable learning experiences.

“I made some terrible mistakes,” she says.

“It makes me blush now to think about — I’d never had any budgetary responsibility and I completely forgot about cash flow, so of course we ran out of money.

“And when I had to tell my board, I was terrified but they were great — they just said ‘you’ll learn,’ and made sure I got a bit of support.

EOB_6760 — Stott on holiday at Butlins, aged six

“They taught me about governance and it was a lesson well-learned.”

Since those early days of incorporation, she’s seen the focus governance change, and she tells me, “that‘s no bad thing”.

When Stott was interviewed for the role as chair of governors at City Lit in 1999, she asked to be put on the quality assurance board — only to be told there wasn’t one.

“In those days it was less concerned about quality — the emphasis was on the financial management,” she says.

“That was a reaction to the times and to incorporation and suddenly being responsible for their own budgets.

“Now, I think we’ve shifted that balance, quite rightly, so the money’s there to support the quality, not the other way around.”

Stott moved on to work first for the London Open College Network (commuting back to Warwick) and then the national one, before founding a consultancy — which brought with it the choice of living anywhere for the first time.

So she settled in Bath, where she met her now-husband, Steve, who is also in education, focussing on teaching maths to those with learning difficulties.

In 2012, Stott was awarded an MBE for her services to FE.

“It was the proudest moment of my life,” she says.

“Not the MBE itself — my children wrote me a card saying ‘we’re so proud of you mum’ and I just thought that was wonderful.”

Stott graduating from her B. Phil Ed from Warwick in 1991

Looking to the future, the most important task for AoC and Find a Future, she says, is about creating “a culture shift”.

“I think politicians absolutely have to understand the importance of colleges and that if you undermine that infrastructure of colleges, then you’re actually undermining the future of the country,” she says.

“And for AoC it’s about constantly, constantly getting the message across, making sure that politicians and officials understand the consequences of their policies.”

And Stott shows no sign of backing off her many commitments, still living by her lecturer’s motto.

“If you’ve got something you’re enthusiastic about, that you really care about, then you’re proactive, then you do it,” she says.

“And I just think I’m very fortunate really to have been able to do things that I think are worthwhile and that I care about.

“Not everybody has that chance, do they?”

It’s a personal thing

What is your favourite book, and why?

Middlemarch by George Eliot — no question. It absolutely has been ever since I first read it when I was about 18. I think Dorothea is a wonderful heroine. She’s very strong, intelligent, humane and loyal, so she’s a brilliant heroine, and at a time when people didn’t write about strong women
like that

What is your pet hate?

Broken promises. It really irritates me if people say they are going to do something and then they don’t. I also hate it when you hear about teachers humiliating kids — kids feeling humiliated, being told they’re thick

What do you do to switch off after work?

Friends and family are the most important things. I also belong to a book club, so reading. And I love live music. And also travelling, when I get the chance

If you could invite anyone, living or dead, to a dinner party, who would it be?

George Eliot and Charles Dickens, as they were both kind of social reformers and I thought probably Desmond Tutu. You would get great conversation with those three. Oh, and [City of Bath College principal] Matt Atkinson said I should say him as well — because he’d enjoy the conversation too

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

First of all I wanted to be a vet, that was my first dream job, just because I liked animals really, but then I couldn’t do that because I was too squeamish. And I wanted to be a teacher from early on, but then if I’m perfectly honest, I wasn’t aware of many other options. As a little girl in the 1950s and 60s, it was: ‘Do you want to be a teacher or a librarian or a nurse?’

The indy scene

Managing a national training company brings a great deal of variety to my daily workload.

However, this time of the year many of my hours are spent working on our exhibition stands at the various trade shows we attend.

So in the past few weeks I’ve been at Earls Court for the Restaurant Show, Olympia for the Independent Hoteliers Show, I am writing this article from the Care Show at the NEC Birmingham and of course, we’re back at the NEC for the Skills Show in a matter of days.

Then a break until January, when we’re exhibiting at the Hospitality Show at the NEC again.

All this is on top of the local careers exhibitions and activities our area teams attend throughout the year.

So why do we invest to attend these national trade exhibitions? Firstly, it not only promotes our brand to our chosen industries, but brings us sufficient new employer clients to justify the expense and time.

It gives me the opportunity to listen to what employers say they really need for their own staff development and training.

It also enables me to listen to my own staff ‘sell’ to the employers visiting our stands to ensure they understand the full offer we can deliver and the various funding streams we can access. The bonus for me is the number of total strangers who come onto our stands and say they already use HIT and are exceptionally pleased with the service we provide for them.

But worrying is the level of ignorance among employers about apprenticeships, both in hospitality, but also in the care sector, which is highly regulated with mandatory requirements for training.

The new minister in May needs to plan for a decade of no changes, not loans one minute, then withdrawn when learners vote with their feet, or Functional Skills this week instead of GCSEs last week, grants this week, withdrawn the next

While it is generally accepted that FE providers have been the major force in promoting apprenticeships to employers, government has funded the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and a whole range of advertisements, which in the main appear to have failed.

At HIT, we ensure we get value for money from attending these trade shows. How does BIS evaluate the success of their marketing and advertising of apprenticeships and NAS?

Disturbingly, employers we speak to at these trade shows are confused by the continual changes meddling ministers impose on apprenticeship programmes.

Eligibility for funding, lengths of stay, inconsistencies of age grants, etc, confuse employers and their level of knowledge is normally out of date.

No wonder less than 10 per cent of employers bother with apprenticeships when they need to plan for at least three to five years ahead while a minister can change the apprenticeship funding, content and eligibility rules at a moment’s notice.

Again from the Skills Show last year, it was apparent from many of the school pupils visiting our stand that the vast majority were unaware of the existence and potential of apprenticeships. More alarmingly, their teachers were even more ignorant and the parents we spoke to had only vaguely heard of apprenticeships, and had rarely considered it an option for their children.

Hopefully we will now have a period of no changes as we approach the general election. But the new minister in May needs to plan for a decade of no changes, not loans one minute, then withdrawn when learners vote with their feet, or Functional Skills this week instead of GCSEs last week, grants this week, withdrawn the next — that is no way to improve the skill base of the country to grow the economy.

Employers and parents want assurance that the Trailblazer apprenticeships will contain a valid qualification backed by a reputable awarding body, not just a standard agreed by a minority of employers and signed-off by the current minister.

After all, City & Guilds has been creating and approving apprenticeship since mediaeval times, not just the average 18 months the apprenticeship ministers have remained in post.

What is the safeguarding duty and what happens if providers get it wrong?

Ofsted inspectors recently gave a 16 to 19 independent learning provider an inadequate rating having discovered it failing to meet its statutory requirements on safeguarding learners. Geraldine Swanton explains the safeguarding learners issue.

A positive duty to promote and safeguard the welfare of children was imposed on FE colleges and schools by the Education Act 2002.

Private providers are not within the ambit of that duty, but are subject to the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework and to funding conditions imposed by the Education Funding Agency, which will be linked to Ofsted assessment outcomes.

Because of their day-to-day contact with children, educators are considered to be particularly well placed to observe the signs of abuse and to prevent harm.

An inter-agency approach has since been adopted, as set out in government guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (March 2013). Though primarily intended for children’s services, it should be taken into account by all providers.

Complying with a broad, positive duty is much more challenging than a duty that requires a college to refrain from concrete conduct (eg anti-discrimination legislation).

The challenge is reinforced when providers’ quality of leadership and management is judged by Ofsted to be inadequate for reasons which include their safeguarding arrangements.

Every provider needs to be mindful of the legal consequences of failing to discharge safeguarding duties

The statutory duty is broad and devoid of specific detail, but is given some substance in the statutory guidance published from time to time by the Department for Education.

The current version is Keeping Children Safe in Education, which was issued in April 2014, which in some respects lacks the specificity of previous versions.

The guidance interprets the statutory duty as comprising three essential elements. They are: identifying concerns regarding harm to children and reporting those concerns to the relevant agency via the senior member of the college’s staff with responsibility for safeguarding; recruitment of staff to ensure that unsuitable people do not work with children; and dealing with allegations of abuse against staff.

The guidance requires colleges to have an “effective” child protection policy in place which is promulgated to all staff.

The policy should describe procedures that are in accordance with government guidance and refer to locally agreed inter-agency procedures put in place by the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

Regular staff training is key to discharging the duty. That policy should be reviewed annually by the governing body, which has a supervisory role.

Providers should have genuine concern for the wellbeing of every learner, but in an increasingly regulatory environment, every provider needs to be mindful of the legal consequences of failing to discharge safeguarding duties.

READ MORE: Why Prevent is preventing education

There is no scope in the legislation for a legal action against colleges for breach of statutory duty. In addition, failing to prevent abuse perpetrated by third parties outside of a college or private provider’s control is unlikely in most circumstances to lead to a successful claim of negligence.

Of much greater import is a negative assessment by Ofsted and persistent failure to comply with the duty could precipitate intervention by the Secretary of State under powers conferred by the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 in respect of colleges and in relation to private training providers, termination of funding contracts.

Ofsted’s common inspection framework no longer attributes a limiting grade overall to the quality of safeguarding, but significant weight appears to be attached to it in the assessment of leadership and management.

The checklist of factors that Ofsted will consider is set out in its inspection handbook, is comprehensive and, arguably, more prescriptive than the statutory guidance.

For example, it states that inspectors will take into account whether learners are suitably protected from the risks associated with radicalisation and extremism. Government guidance may help to elucidate what amounts to suitable protection.

Colleges and private providers should ensure that they have a range of policies to address threats of harm to children, from e-security, bullying to radicalisation.

Further, staff should be sensitive to the signs of abuse and should report all reasonable suspicions to the designated member of staff.

Though staff should co-operate with inter-agency case investigations, they should not assume responsibility for handling and resolving cases of abuse. That is the responsibility of the relevant statutory agency.

Level four FE loans — whither policy now?

The most recent government release on FE loans indicated that the number of applications from learners aiming to study at level four was being hit. Mike Farmer explains what this might mean for the sector.

There has been plenty of analysis of the impact of 24+ Advanced Learning Loans, but one aspect does not appear to have received much attention — the impact at level four, which appears to be much greater than at level three.

In 2012/13, the year immediately prior to the introduction of the loans scheme, about 10 per cent of learners aged 24 and over studying at level three and above were at level four. In 2013/14, the first year of the scheme, the proportion dropped to 5 per cent, which is consistent with the proportion of level four 24+ loan applications since the start of the scheme.

So, leaving aside the apprenticeship ‘fiasco’, the introduction of the 24+ loans scheme appears to have its biggest impact on the numbers choosing level four qualifications. So far as I can judge, this was not predicted.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Regulatory Impact Assessment, published in June 2012, for example, anticipated an overall 45 per cent fall in student numbers, but made no prediction about differential effects on level four.

Why should this be so? And should we be worried?

There are no easy answers to the first question. We all need a much better understanding of this newly-created market and what influences consumer behaviour.

The paucity of detailed published information (eg on qualification uptake) does not help.

By April 2014, for example, nearly 60 per cent of all level four loan applications were in one subject (accounting diploma) — but is that consistent with previous years?

What changes have there been in the types of level four learners? Have employer-supported part-time learners fallen more than self-funded and full-time learners? Since level four+ overlaps with higher education there may be some answers from that sector, on which there is more detailed information.

Leaving aside the apprenticeship ‘fiasco’, the introduction of the 24+ loans scheme appears to have its biggest impact on the numbers choosing level four qualifications

The Higher Education Funding Council for England reports significant recent falls in higher education student numbers on part-time and sub-degree (level four and five) courses such as HNC/HND, DipHE and Foundation degrees following the introduction of the current higher education loans regime.

Employer funding for students is also (consequentially?) reported to have fallen significantly. Could the same trends be happening at level four+ in FE? Policy debate cannot sensibly happen in an information vacuum.

Is the fall in level four numbers a problem anyway? On the one hand the government and just about everyone else is stressing the importance to the nation of higher level skills, particularly in certain key areas (nuclear commissioning/de-commissioning and HS2 spring to mind).

On the other, the loans schemes in both FE and higher education are designed to facilitate student choice, on the basis presumably that the consumer knows best.

However, significant public hand-wringing immediately sets in when consumers make what are perceived to be the ‘wrong’ choices (think ‘endangered subjects’ in higher education).

The recent BIS consultation on the future of FE loans suggested that one of the reasons for a transfer of HND/Cs from the higher education to the FE loans system, was that students at private colleges were ’not in priority vocational areas’ (translation — taking the ‘wrong’ subjects).

For me, the policy lesson is that once you establish a market, you must accept the consequences of consumer choices, although you need to understand them better, and provide better consumer advice.

The dilemma for government is if, in its view, such a market fails for vocational areas where it has a policy on what subjects and qualification levels people should take, it no longer has the financial levers to deliver what it wants. This is exactly what Professor Ewart Keep has pointed to in his paper What does skills policy look like now the money has run out?

Level four is a fascinating test case for this thesis.

Edition 117: Dr Jan Edrich, Tony Lau-Walker and Lawrence Vincent

Former Association of South East Colleges (AOSEC) chief executive Dr Jan Edrich has been appointed principal at Hampshire’s Eastleigh College.

She takes over from Tony Lau-Walker CBE who retired after 17 years at the college — and two years after leading it to an Ofsted outstanding grade.

Dr Edrich has worked at the college as the deputy chief executive since October 2012. She has a doctorate in college strategic planning and policy and has worked in education since 1990, having come from a commercial background in telecommunications manufacturing.

Outside of work, she likes to de-stress by running and has four marathons under her belt.

“During my time at AOSEC I worked closely with 60 colleges and spent a lot of time with them on budgets, quality improvement and strategy, so I know what makes a college special,” she said.

“I particularly liked the focus at Eastleigh College on preparing young people for work, an apprenticeship or university, in partnership with employers in the area to make sure that they get plenty of real experience and know what to expect.

“There is an excellent team here at the college and we are proud of our reputation of getting students into great jobs in both local and national businesses — it is crucial that our students are highly employable at the end of their time with us.”

Meanwhile Bournemouth & Poole College is preparing for life without principal Lawrence Vincent, who has announced he is to leave at the end of the academic year.

He said: “I have decided that it’s time for me to move on as principal of Bournemouth & Poole College.

“The project that I was brought in to achieve, namely to modernise and improve the college, will have been completed by then and I will be moving on to new challenges.

He added: “I have had a wonderful 20 years here and will have been principal for six years by the time I depart; I’ll be around for some while yet. I want to be sure that the college gets a new leader who will be the right fit for the college’s ambitions.”

Joy Postings, chair of the board of corporation said: “We are very sorry Lawrence is leaving us at the end of this academic year.

“He has created a strong base on which the college’s reputation within the community has grown. Lawrence has transformed how we work with businesses, ensuring our students leave with the confidence and skills that they need to get jobs and progress in their careers.”

Colleges team up with uni to produce legal offer

New vocational routes into the legal profession have been opened up after a partnership between FE colleges and a sector university was launched.

Five FE colleges have teamed up with the University of Law (ULaw) to offer intermediate, advanced and higher apprenticeships in legal services, including one programme which allows learners to become solicitors within six years of flexible training.

Through existing apprenticeships, learners can become apprentice legal assistants and apprentice paralegal officers, among other roles, but the new partnership will expand the offer available to those seeking to avoid a traditional university route.

The partnership was launched at an event at the House of Commons on Monday (November 3) where it won praise from senior MPs including government apprenticeship ambassador Gordon Birtwistle and Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry.

Birmingham Metropolitan College, City and Islington College, Cornwall College, Sunderland College and Walsall College are all involved in the partnership, which will see apprenticeships accredited by City & Guilds and the Chartered Institute
of Legal Executives.

The event also saw the launch of an articled apprenticeships programme, a six-year route to becoming a solicitor combining a period of recognised training with study.

Mr Birtwistle said he was “pleased and impressed” with the programme. He added: “I myself trained as an apprentice engineer and I feel very proud of this new partnership. Apprentices are our nation’s best secret.

“As the workforce of the future, the legal profession will only be enriched by their contribution.”

Birmingham Metropolitan College principal Andrew Cleaves said: “The college is carving a niche in delivering employer-led programmes tailored for the region’s business and professional services sector and the partnership with ULaw will enable us to develop our programme further.”

Cornwall College deputy chief executive Raoul Humphreys said: “Our partnership allows us to combine our knowledge, resources and experience, and demonstrate our shared vision and beliefs, to deliver the best possible outcomes for apprentices and employers.”

City and Islington College centre for lifelong learning director Grant Glendinning said: “We are delighted to be part of cultivating this hugely beneficial partnership.

“It offers new possibilities to enhance the route to a career in law, for those who may not previously have thought they could enter it, through exceptional programmes of shared academic expertise; and through pioneering, innovative apprenticeships, new ways for employers to fill skill gaps through expert training, for both new and existing staff.”

Dr Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, also welcomed the launch, adding that it would give students and apprentices “the opportunity to kick-start their legal careers”.

She added: “The colleges involved are the acknowledged experts in the delivery of high-quality apprenticeships; the University of Law has the reputation, legal expertise and relationships with legal employers. For both students and apprentices, it is a win-win.”

Main Pic: Gordon Birtwistle MP and John Latham, from ULaw

Newcastle College bomb plot accused in court

A teenager accused of plotting to blow up Newcastle College has appeared in court.

Liam Lyburd, aged 18, of Hamilton Place, Newcastle, appeared in front of magistrates in North Tyneside today charged with offences in relation to possession of a gun and pipe bombs.

He was charged last night with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life and five counts of possessing an explosive substance, namely a pipe bomb, with intent to endanger life.

Police said they had identified an “intent to cause serious harm at Newcastle College”.

Lyburd, who spoke only to confirm his details, was remanded in custody and will appear at Newcastle Crown Court on November 20.

See edition 117 of FE Week, dated Monday November 10, for more information including the principal’s comment.

Campus 32

Teen who blogs about cancer battle returns to catering course

A teenager who blogs about her battle with cancer and also her favourite recipes has resumed her professional catering course at East Kent College after finishing chemotherapy, writes Paul Offord.

catering student and cancer sufferer Emily Mackay is determined to spread the word about how the disease affects teenagers.

The 18-year-old East Kent College level three learner was diagnosed a year ago with a rare type of bone cancer, called osteosarcoma, in her right thigh bone and the left saddle bone of her spine. She was forced to put her studies on hold while undergoing chemotherapy, but carried on developing recipes for a blog she launched in January called Cooking and Cancer.

She resumed her course in September after completing the treatment and represented the college last month at a fundraising event in Skipton, North Yorkshire, for the Ilkley Candlelighters charity, which supports research into children’s cancers.

Emily helped top chef Steve Smith, from Freemasons gastro pub in Wiswell, Lancashire, which was ranked number one in the 2015 Good Food Guide’s Top 50 UK Pubs, prepare dishes including heritage potatoes cooked in ham knuckle stock, crispy hen’s egg and mushroom ketchup for the guests.

She said: “Returning to college and working with Steve was fantastic. It was inspirational hearing him explain how he came up with ideas for his dishes.

“I started the blog because I thought people weren’t aware of how many young people are affected by cancer and it would be good to spread the word. A nurse told me the other day that seven teenagers are diagnosed in this country every day.

“I have always enjoyed cooking and writing about it helped keep me going. My dad, Graham, is a real foodie. He’s my sous chef who helps me test out my recipes.”

Emily said her lecturers were “brilliant” when she had to take a break from her course.

They organised a six-course fundraising meal and charity auction in her honour in April, which raised £5,000 for The Teenage Cancer Trust.

She said: “I didn’t really know much about the cancer when I was diagnosed, so couldn’t tell them much about how it was going to affect me. They we so supportive and just said ‘come back when you are ready’.”

Emily also spread the word about support available to cancer sufferers on prime time BBC One show Saints and Scroungers — which reports on benefits fraudsters and people who

deserve government help.

She was interviewed by presenter Matt Alwright for an episode screened last month about emotional and practical support she received from charity Cancer and Leukaemia in

Emily Mackay after her chemotherapy — Emily Mackey after her chemotherapy

Childhood (CLIC) Sargent.

Emily said: “I had previously said I would be happy to help with anything to advertise the charity and they emailed me to ask if I would be interviewed for the show. I was terrified but my mum, Karen, was interviewed too. I talked about the good advice CLIC Sargent gave me on care and financial support available to cancer sufferers.

“It was weird seeing myself on telly, but everyone said I did a good job so I was happy.”

It represented another encouraging step forward in her battle with the cancer which has been cleared from her femur but is still in her spine.

She said: “My advice to other teenagers diagnosed with cancer is ‘don’t give up and don’t let it get you down’. You have still got a life and just need to keep living it.”

Visit cookingandcancer.wordpress.com to read Emily’s blog.

Main picture caption: Emily Mackay pictured recently