St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Safeguarding

Safeguarding and Child Protection

We are a caring school with the welfare of all our pupils deeply entrenched in our philosophy. We have a duty of care to report any concerns to Social Services if deemed necessary by the Headteacher who is the person responsible for Child Protection.

Operation Encompass was  set up to provide early reporting to schools etc., about any domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of school hours to which a young person attending our school has been exposed, and which might then have an impact on their schooling the following day. This information will be shared throughout the year, including school holidays and the weekends.

 Information will only be shared with the school by the police where it is identified that a young person was present, witnessed or was involved in a domestic abuse incident.

Mrs N Wood is the Encompass Key Adult and have been trained to liaise with the police.

Mrs N Wood is also the school Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL). Mrs De Carteret is our back up DSL. I will be able to use information that has been shared by the police, in confidence, to ensure that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. I will keep this information confidential, and will only share it on a need to know basis, for instance, to teaching staff for the child or young person. It will not be shared with other school pupils.

Operation Encompass was first introduced in Plymouth in February 2011, and has proved very effective in providing appropriate and timely support to young people affected by domestic abuse. This initiative has been implemented across the whole of the Lancashire Police area.  If you would like some more information about it, you can view it online at www.operationencompass.org.

We are keen to offer the best support possible for our pupils and a recent review of Operation Encompass showed that it is beneficial and supportive for all those involved.