Basic Skills Quality Mark

The Quality Mark is awarded to schools who meet key criteria around the area of ‘basic skills’ – reading, writing, spelling and maths. Achieving the award involves a rigorous process, including demonstrating how committed we are to:

• further improving the skills of staff in the school to teach and extend basic skills;
• using a range of teaching styles and materials;
• involving parents in developing their children’s basic skills.

The Alliance for Lifelong Learning is committed to working with local authorities, schools, local communities and other organisations in using the Basic Skills Quality Mark process to develop, support and celebrate good practice in literacy, language and numeracy for children and young people.

The Basic Skills Quality Mark is an award that celebrates and supports continuous improvement in literacy and numeracy.

It is awarded to a setting or school to recognise their provision, practice and performance in literacy and numeracy, and is valid for three years.

A school or setting must demonstrate a whole school approach to improving standards in literacy and numeracy, with evidence of the impact of its approaches.

It provides a framework for self-evaluation and continuous improvement of the basic skills of all pupils in a school, including those who underachieve and those who under attain.