Ulva only has 16 people living there, but since a starring role on Banjo and Ro's Grand Island Hotel tourists have flocked to the island.
Parents challenged Argyll & Bute council's decision on the site of the new school, but the Court of Session ruled in the authority's favour.
The crew of the 79-year-old Waverley offered its assistance to get passengers back to Oban on Tuesday.
The stairway was built as part of wider improvements and gives visitors easier access for puffin-spotting.
Margo Baxter had part of her care package abruptly halted in April due to the Argyll & Bute Health and Social Care Partnership's struggles to find care staff.
The ferry will resume service on the route between Oban and Craignure where it is filling in for the MV Isle of Mull.
Derek Feast, abused teenage boys in Hertfordshire and Norfolk between 1972 and 1991
Tanny Gill has just set up the Scottish Cheese Academy in West Linton in the Borders.
A group calling for a more central location for the new school lost a legal challenge last month.
