The Council of the Isles of Scilly’s Learning and Library team has been successfully re-accredited with the Matrix Standard, a nationally recognised quality mark for organisations that provide information, advice and guidance to individuals to make learning and work more accessible.
As part of grant funding requirements, the Learning and Library team must be externally assessed to ensure that the advice and support they provide is both impartial and effective.
In early April, Assessment Services Ltd spent 2 days on Scilly assessing the team’s leadership, management, resources, service delivery and continuous quality improvement.
Staff were praised for their ‘commitment to providing the best services to their community’. All 27 national standards were met, with a quarter being judged as service strengths; these include:
- Providing a holistic, needs-led service to learners.
- Working extensively with partners to achieve objectives.
- Individuals have a high level of trust and confidence in the privacy and confidential nature of the service.
- Effective use is made of technology to improve the service.
- The organisation promotes the service in ways which are accessible to all those eligible to use it.
As part of their visit, the assessors also spoke to people using the service to gauge their opinions. Learners were positive about the service commenting that the team are: ‘a joy to work with’ and ‘very approachable, friendly and very supportive of customers.’
Having Matrix Standard accreditation is confirmation of the high level of service the team is providing and provides a benchmark for further improvement. It will also help the team to take advantage of European funding that will be coming on stream in the near future to deliver further skills, training and learning opportunities to islanders.
If you would like to find out more about the learning opportunities that are available to you then please contact the Learning and Library team on 424880 or lifelonglearning@scilly.gov.uk.