The Dell - Safeguarding

SAFEGUARDING, CHILD PROTECTION & DOMESTIC ABUSE

At The Dell, we aim to create and engender a culture of safeguarding which focuses on an underlying attitude to ensuring we keep all our pupils, staff and visitors safe. This extends to safe learning, work and play spaces indoors and out as well as assuring the suitability of adults who work here, visit or undertake maintenance. It ensures any trips away from the school site are assessed for risks and safe. Our day to day work, supported by governing body working, helps us notice and address issues that may impact on our school, grounds and working practices being safe.

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The following statement was agreed by the Headteacher, staff and governors on 12 March 2013. It is revisited and readopted each year by the Governing Body at their Annual General Meeting near the start of the autumn term.

The Headteacher, staff and Governors of The Dell Primary School recognise their responsibility to safeguard all the pupils in our care.

We recognise that we all have a responsibility to help prevent the physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect of our pupils and to report any such abuse that we discover or suspect.

We believe every child should be valued, safe and happy. We want to make sure that children we have contact with know this and are empowered to tell us if they are suffering harm.
All children and young people have the right to be treated with respect, to be listened to and to be protected from all forms of abuse.
We recognise the personal dignity and rights of pupils, and staff, and will ensure all our policies and procedures reflect this.
We undertake to exercise proper care in the appointment and selection of all those who will work with children.

We are committed to:

Following the guidance in the All Wales Child Protection Procedures
Respecting the rights of children
Nurturing, protecting and safeguarding all of our pupils
Implementing the requirements of legislation in regard to people with disabilities.
Ensuring that workers adhere to the agreed procedures of our safeguarding policy.
Keeping up to date with national and local developments relating to safeguarding.
Following any local authority guidelines in relation to safeguarding children and adults in need of protection.
Supporting parents and families.
Sharing information with partner agencies where this is necessary to safeguard and promote the well-being of children.

We recognise:

Monmouthshire Children’s Services has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about a child
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

We will review this statement and our policy and procedures annually.

If you have any concerns for a child or family then speak to one of the following who are designated to take the lead in safeguarding in this school.

ALL staff who work at The Dell in whatever capacity receive 'Level 1' safeguarding training and this is refreshed every two years. Designated and Deputy Designated Leads receive 'Level 2' safeguarding training and this is updated every three years. At The Dell we have trained two additional members of staff to this higher level of awareness.

DESIGNATED PERSON FOR SAFEGUARDING - Steve King, Headteacher

DEPUTY DESIGNATED PERSON FOR SAFEGUARDING – Mark Adams, Deputy Headteacher

OTHER SAFEGUARDING LEAD - Hannah Adams (Curriculum and Pedagogy / ALN Lead)

OTHER SAFEGUARDING LEAD - Matthew Nicholas (Assessment and Progress Lead)

GOVERNOR WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR SAFEGUARDING – Ray Jones

MONMOUTHSHIRE CC SAFEGUARDING IN EDUCATION LEAD OFFICER - Heather Heaney

Operation Encompass Safeguarding Statement

Operation Encompass provides an efficient, confidential channel of communication between police forces and Key Adults within schools. This enables the immediate and discrete recognition of the child's situation by the Key Adult, ensuring a secure and sympathetic environment is provided and the broader effects of abuse are addressed.

What Does Operation Encompass Deliver?

Operation Encompass is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Key Adult (Designated Safeguarding Person) prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident thus enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience and can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by enabling immediate support, making a child's day better and giving them a better tomorrow.

Operation Encompass believes that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right and should be acknowledged as such.

Operation Encompass in Schools

The ambition of Operation Encompass is to ensure that all incidents of domestic abuse are shared with schools, not just those where an offence can be identified.

The principles of Operation Encompass are very simple. At The Dell the Key Adult (Headteacher) receives information about abusive incidents directly from the police. The Key Adult will be notified prior to the start of the next school day that the police have attended an incident of domestic abuse to which a child has been exposed. This timely knowledge enables a plan for appropriate support to be made for that child so that all interactions, from when the child first arrives at the school gates, are of a positive nature.

The Key Adult will be the school's trained Designated or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Person and has attended a mandatory police and education led Operation Encompass briefing. They are then able to cascade this training to their school Governors and all staff, creating an awareness throughout their school of Operation Encompass, how it mitigates the effects of domestic abuse, and its broader consequent benefits. They can also communicate the school's Operation Encompass participation to the broader school community and stakeholders, for example by placing information on our website, in our prospectus, and by sending the joint police/school letter to parents.

Operation Encompass is an integral component in child safeguarding and protection policies and, as such, is cited in our Safeguarding policy. Participation in Operation Encompass mandates a secure record-keeping trail, which may be electronic or paper based. Within Operation Encompass all records are managed at Child Protection level with the highest level of security and confidentiality, and in full accordance with GDPR.

Operation Encompass - How The Police Participate

Operation Encompass provides a set of of simple and effective procedures which together enable police forces to efficiently and effectively communicate with the schools attended by children who have been exposed to domestic abuse or other forms of adverse childhood experience. Early intervention and the provision of appropriate support in these events has a significant positive effect on affected children. It helps minimise the long-term effects and promotes positive outcomes for the child, the wider family and the community at large.

Operation Encompass provides a proven and easily understood framework in which these incidents can be consistently and appropriately addressed and recorded.

Within Gwent Police, individual responsibilities are clearly defined:

The Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner make the initial commitment to the Operation Encompass scheme, for which a member of the Senior Management Team takes on strategic responsibility.
An officer of appropriate responsibility is appointed as police lead to oversee implementation of Operation Encompass by the force, and to direct associated policies. This officer ensures effective delivery of Operation Encompass as directed by the Home Office and identifies the most effective method of communicating with schools ahead of the school day.
The force briefs every school's Designated Safeguarding Person - Operation Encompass provides the appropriate teaching materials. These briefings ensure that the highly confidential information the police supply to the DSL is treated with appropriate care and sensitivity, in situations which are frequently rapidly evolving.
The force maintains up-to-date contact details for all DSLs trained in Operation Encompass procedures.
All frontline officers within the force are fully trained in Operation Encompass - its purpose, when to apply it and how to apply it correctly.
The force provides a letter template to schools, used to inform parents of the school's participation in the scheme.
The force records the number of children supported and shares this data with the Operation Encompass charity.

To find out more about Operation Encompass visit https://www.operationencompass.org/