Yavneh College has been recognised for excellence in its spiritual, moral, social and cultural education.

The Orthodox secondary school in Elstree has been awarded gold standard in the National SMSC Quality Mark, an initiative developed by the Young Citizens foundation to ensure that “children and young people are able to make a positive difference” to society.

Yavneh said the award reflected the centrality of the school’s motto, “A World Built on Kindness”, to everything that it did.

Spencer Lewis, Yavneh’s executive headteacher, said he was “so proud — this award confirms what a special school Yavneh College is, not only academically but socially, morally and communally as well. It reflects the strong modern Orthodox Jewish ethos of the school in a huge number of ways.”