Operation Encompass
Our school is part of a project, which is run between Merseyside schools and Merseyside Police. The project called Operation Encompass, has been designed to provide early reporting of any domestic violence incidents that occur outside school, which might have an impact on a child in school. This is done through a notification to school following an incident.
The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident. Following such an incident, children can arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff (called Key Adults) are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.
The project ensures that The Key Adult, is trained to liaise with the police and to use the information that has been shared, in confidence.
In this way, we aim to support each child who has been involved in, or witnessed, a domestic abuse incident. The Key Adult at Rowan Schools is Katie Jones. If she receives an Encompass notification she will make sure that a person the child trusts is available to help – if the child needs this. A lot of the time this support is silent; keeping a careful eye on him or her and make sure the child has a calm school day. The confidential information is ordinarily not shared with all staff, just an agreement on how to help, if needed.
All schools have a duty to share any information with other organisations if they feel a child is at risk of being hurt. The Key Adult may contact other organisations. This is described in our child protection policy.
The sharing of information from the Police allows the school to be ready to help your child straight away, and it means that parents are aware that the Key Adult knows that something has happened. Parents can come and talk to our Key Adult Sefton Safer Families Practice Hub at any time. The Key Adult can point you towards other people that can help. Our aim is to support children and their families.
At The Rowan Schools our contact is: Katie Jones (Deputy Head Teacher and DSL)
If you have any questions about Operation Encompass, please do not hesitate to contact us or you can find more information by clicking the link below.
Sefton Council also have lots of information on local support agencies: