St Augustine's Catholic Primary School

In conjunction with Cheshire Police, St Augustine's Catholic Primary School is involved in a new initiative called Operation Encompass.  The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident. Following such an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff (called Key Adults) are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.

This is a valuable initiative that means we can continue to support and help children and families within our school community when they need it the most. 

You can find out more by visiting www.operationencompass.org or by contacting our Key Adult.

The current procedures for reporting Domestic Abuse incidents to schools can involve a lengthy delay in the transfer of information, which means that our children are left without the support and nurture that they need when they need it most. Operation Encompass has been created to address this so that by 9am on the next school day the school’s Key Adult will have been informed that the child or young person has been involved, heard or witnessed a domestic incident. This knowledge, given to schools through Operation Encompass, allows the provision of immediate early intervention through silent or overt support dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

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.

If you have any questions about Operation Encompass, please do not hesitate to contact us.