As part of a range of work to tackle domestic violence and abuse Kirklees Children’s services, West Yorkshire Police and schools across the area have developed a process to provide better support to children affected by domestic violence.  This initiative draws on the principles of a police led initiative “Operation Encompass” which was first developed in Plymouth and later adopted in other force areas.  The Kirklees process will involve notifying schools and educational establishments when one of their pupils has been present at an incident of domestic violence where the police have attended. This notification will be done the following morning- ideally before the start of the school day. The purpose of the notification is not to duplicate or replace any safeguarding interventions that may occur as a result of the police intervention, but to provide information to schools so that they can better support the pupil the next day in whatever way is appropriate. The process will always be followed in conjunction with current safeguarding procedures and guidelines. The operational delivery will form part of the Front Door and be delivered by Education staff based with in the Front Door. A protocol for the project has been drawn up. This protocol includes information on the type of responses that schools/ teachers may wish to consider. As part of the protocol schools are being asked to write to parents to inform them about their participation in the scheme. The process starts with a daily download from police systems, detailing all domestic violence incidents they have attended, with names and dates of birth of any children present. This is then crossed checked with the Kirklees school admission data base to identify the schools attended. A phone call will then be made by Kirklees education staff to designated safeguarding leads in the schools to inform them of the incident. 

All schools have opted into this national service as this stregthens the communication between all parties and ensures that the safeguarding of children in school remains a priority.

For further Information please contact.

Charlotte Jackson- Head of Service- Assessment & Intervention and Front Door charlotte.jackson@kirklees.gov.uk

Maggie Featherstone- Portfolio Manager: Attendance & pupil Support Service maggie.featherstone@kirklees.gov.uk

For more information on safeguarding advice please visit this link.