Operation Encompass
The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in or witness to a domestic abuse incident. Domestic abuse impacts on children a numbers of ways. Children are at increased risk of physical injury during an incident, either by accident or because they attempt to intervene. Even when not directly injured, children are greatly distressed by witnessing the physical and emotional suffering of a parent.
Until recently, there have been no procedures for reporting Domestic Abuse incidents to schools which means that our children are left without the support and nurture that they need when they need it most. Operation Encompass, the implementation of key partnership working between the police and schools, has been created to address this so that by 8.30am on the next school day the school’s Key Adult will be informed that the child or young person has been involved, heard or witnessed a domestic incident. This knowledge, given to schools through Operation Encompass, allows the provision of immediate early intervention through silent or overt support dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.
At Larkholme, the Key Adult is Mrs Sims (Deputy Headeacher and DSL) She is supported by Mrs Mellow and Ms Gilmour.
Operation Encompass is an integral component in child safeguarding and protection policies and, as such, should be cited in the school’s Safeguarding and Child Protection policies. Participation in Operation Encompass mandates a secure record-keeping trail, which may be electronic or paper based. Within Operation Encompass all records are managed at Child Protection level with the highest level of security and confidentiality, and in full accordance with GDPR. These records are held by police and schools only. Operation Encompass does not hold the records and never has access to these records.