Safeguarding Information for Parents

Operation Encompass North Tyneside What is Operation Encompass?
‍The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in a domestic abuse incident. Following an incident at home, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset and unprepared for the day. North Tyneside Council, the police and nominated Key Adults in school will be working together to make sure that school staff are made aware of an incident early enough to support pupils in school.

Why is Operation Encompass being introduced in North Tyneside?
‍Operation Encompass was initially launched in Plymouth in February 2011 to address a shortcoming in the early sharing of information with schools. Since then several pilots have been set up across the UK, including Gateshead and South Tyneside, and has proved to very successful in providing appropriate support in a timely manner. Pilots across the UK have reported positive outcomes for many children and young people. North Tyneside Council, Northumbria Police and all schools in the borough will be taking part in the scheme, to help provide additional new support which will benefit children and young people in North Tyneside and improve multi-agency sharing of information. Operation Encompass was launched in North Tyneside in June 2016.

How will it work?
‍Schools across North Tyneside will nominate two members of staff who will be known as Key Adults. All Key Adults will attend specific training to the role in preparation for Operation Encompass. Each morning a police officer will review all domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of school but which might have had an impact on a child attending school the following day. Where children were present, witnessed or involved in a domestic abuse incident and aged between 4 and 16 years old, the officer will send this information to Children’s Social Care Front Door Service. Staff from the Front Door Service will send this information in a secure format to the identified Key Adult. The Key Adult will check their emails every day and the staff in contact with those pupils will then be in an informed position to support them in a way that is right for the child. This information will be shared on school days during school term and, when incidents occur on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or over a holiday period, the police will contact the Front Door the following Monday. All parents will be sent a letter from their child's school informing them about Operation Encompass.  For more information about Operation Encompass, please contact your school or visit http://www.operationencompass.org/

Operation Encompass - The Next Steps
This will help all children in the Northumbria Police force area to learn about friendships, relationships, emotions and rules so that they can live and work together safely. Our school will also benefit from having one of twelve School Safeguarding Liaison Officers who will: Work with our teachers to deliver an age-appropriate session exploring aspects of Domestic Abuse / friendships / relationships / emotions. Be available in school at specified times so that children and parents can talk about issues that they may have around relationships and Domestic Abuse. Our designated police officer, Tim Cousins, will be on hand to offer support and advice. We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and we believe this will be extremely beneficial for children and the whole school community. We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and we believe this will be extremely beneficial for children and the whole school community. For more information follow the link: https://www.operationencompass.org/