This article presents an investigation of a "grass roots" understanding of the relationship between ethical leadership in Solomon Islands and access, equity and quality in education. Access to education, a key element of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, is generally an aspirational matter framed by concrete factors such as new building programs, increased numbers of teachers, and so on. However, discussion about access can helpfully be extended by paying attention to ethical educational leadership because it supports students to attend school, especially when associated with the related concepts of equity and quality. This article re-thinks access through a "tok stori" process in a Solomon Islands context. We propose a concept of access that employs a nuanced, strengths-based, widened lens to take account of ethical, creative and purposeful actions of school leaders. This enables education authorities to recognise and develop the "soft" leadership skills and ethical positions of leaders who have the potential to provide day-to-day enhancement of access through the ways they manage educational tensions.