At Stanford le Hope Primary School, we are working in partnership with Essex Police to identify and provide appropriate support to pupils who have experienced domestic abuse in their household.

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 children in a number of ways. They 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 physical and emotional suffering of a parent.

Encompass has been created to highlight this situation. It is the implementation of key partnership working between police and schools. The aim of sharing information with local school is to allow key adults (usually the designated safeguarding lead), the opportunity of engaging with the child and provide access to support that allows them to remain in a safe and secure familiar environment.

In order to achieve this, Essex Police will share basic information of domestic incidents where one of our pupils has been present. On receipt of this information, the key adult will decide on the appropriate support required for that pupil. All information sharing and resulting actions will be undertaken in accordance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). We will record this information and store it in accordance with record keeping procedures outlined in these regulations.

The purpose and procedures in Operation Encompass have been shared with parents and governors. Further information can be found by clicking on this link.

https://www.operationencompass.org/