Operation Encompass

Our School is part of a project which is being run between Warrington Local Authority, Schools and Cheshire 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 phone call to school following an incident.

The project ensures that at least one member of the school staff, known as 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 our school is Ms Jackson.  

If they receive an Encompass call, they will make sure that a person the child trusts is available to help - if the child needs this.  Most 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.  The Key Adult can point you towards other people that can help.  Our aim is to support children and their families.

Early Help

Early Help refers to the offer of any information, advice or support to children, young people and their families as soon as possible in their lives or when issues emerge to help prevent problems from escalating. 

Listed below are some ways in which support is available at our school: 

- Staff are available everyday to discuss any concerns that you may have on the doors as children enter school. Should you wish to speak to your child's teacher you can leave messages with the staff on the door or contact the school office to arrange this. You may wish to discuss any concerns  you have regarding behaviour, learning or any other support you require. 

- Ms Jackson and Mrs Tyson run the school's safeguarding team and can be contacted via the school office to discuss any concerns or worries you may have regarding your child. 

- Ms Jackson and Mrs Tyson complete referrals to outside agencies such as the Family Outreach team, parenting courses, or our School Health Advisor, etc. in order to support vulnerable children and families. 

- Completion of a MARS form (Multi Agency Request for Services) which involves listening to you to find out what help you need and what is working well in your life. Through this process, we can then put together a plan to support families in dealing with circumstances in their life. 

- Our Safeguarding team meet half-termly to identify any children and families who would benefit from early help to allow them to access services in school and beyond to support identified vulnerable pupils. Additional meetings are arranged as and when required.