 |
|
 |
|
United Kingdom - 30/07/09 Following a successful assessment by SGS United Kingdom Ltd on 16 March 2009, Abronhill Primary School is now recognised for achieving Customer Service Excellence, the Government’s practical improvement tool to help those delivering public services put their customers at the core of what they do. The success builds on the school’s achievement of Charter Mark in 2006. Abronhill Primary is a two-stream, co-educational primary school with a proven record of continuous improvement in its curriculum. In addition to the commitment of the staff and head teacher, parents are fully involved at all stages in implementing new developments and improvements in the school. “We wanted to review and improve the service we provide and ensure we had evidence of the standards of our services,” says Linda Livingstone, Head Teacher at Abronhill. “Every day is different, and we have to be extremely flexible to meet the variety of needs our customers have. We have pupils, parents, the local community, other agencies and staff to consider. We also have to work within the guidelines and regulations set by the local authority and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe).” Abronhill prepared for the Customer Service Excellence assessment by fully understanding the set criteria and applying them to their education setting. Evidence gathering involved discussions with staff, parents and pupils. In addition, an improvement officer from North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) visited, and the Parent Council supported with an audit of stakeholder views. The school has improved its complaints system, reviewed and improved the customer charter, improved communication channels and gathered numerical measures of customer satisfaction. The school also benefited greatly from the involvement of their SGS assessor. “He had a professional attitude and was able to give helpful advice on how we can further improve the provision of evidence,” adds Linda Livingstone. Now, with the successful implementation of the Customer Service Excellence standard, customers distinguish Abronhill as a school focused on how well it delivers its service to meet their needs. “Staff at the school are benefiting too,” says Linda Livingstone. “Front office staff receive more focused training, and the staff generally feel more confident that they are meeting customer needs.” “Now it will be easier for us to evaluate our service as we have more experience of collecting relevant and meaningful data. Customer Service Excellence is definitely helping us to improve the service to our customers.”
SGS United Kingdom Ltd SGS House 217-221 London Road Camberley GU15 3EY
01276 697696
The SGS Group is the global leader and innovator in inspection, verification, testing and certification services. Founded in 1878, SGS is recognised as the global benchmark in quality and integrity. With more than 56,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,000 offices and laboratories around the world.
|
