Customer Service Excellence Standard

The Government wants public services for all that are efficient, effective, excellent, equitable and empowering - with the citizen always and everywhere at the heart of public service provision.  With this in mind Customer Service Excellence was developed to offer public services a practical tool for driving customer-focused change within their organisation.

The foundation of this tool is the Customer Service Excellence Standard which tests in great depth those areas that research has indicated are a priority for customers, with particular focus on delivery, timeliness, information, professionalism and staff attitude.  There is also emphasis placed on developing customer insight, understanding the user's experience and robust measurement of service satisfaction.

In December 2009, Mr Robert Sullivan from SGS, carried out the formal assessment regarding the quality of customer service provided by Mearns Academy as part of our application for the Customer Service Excellence Standard.  This new and exciting Standard replaces the Charter Mark, which was also previously awarded to Mearns Academy.

During the day Mr Sullivan met with staff, pupils, parents and members of the school community to discuss service provision both in terms of teaching and non-teaching support of the school community.  Following a very positive and probing visit, members of the Quality Assurance Committee were informed by the assessor that he was very pleased with the standard of customer service at Mearns Academy.  Formal confirmation of the award was made in January 2010.  At that time, only 2 other schools in Scotland had gained this award and Mearns Academy was the first school in the North and North-East of Scotland to gain this prestigious Standard.