Domestic Abuse

The school understands that the cross-government definition of domestic violence and abuse is:
any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse
between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members
regardless of gender or sexuality.
The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional
harm.
 

Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by
isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain,
depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their
everyday behavior.
 

Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or
other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.
 

If staff do identify children for whom domestic abuse (DA) may be a concern, they must follow the
normal safeguarding process and Child Protection procedures, passing this information to the Senior
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) immediately. The Senior DSL will then refer cases where
relevant to Early Intervention Panels or MAST (Multi-agency Screening Team) and share information
where necessary with the Domestic Abuse Hub within the context of the daily MARAC ( Multi Agency
Risk Assessment Team) meetings. Where DA Notifications are received from the Domestic Abuse
Hub, this information will be added to a child’s chronology and child protection record to ensure that
appropriate support can be provided where necessary. 

Operation Encompass.

Operation Encompass is an initiative that directly connects the police with schools to ensure better
outcomes for children who are subject or witness to police-attended incidents of domestic abuse.

One of the principles of Operation Encompass is that all incidents of domestic abuse are shared with
schools, not just those where an offence can be identified.

It is a system that provides rapid support within the school environment meaning children are better
safeguarded against the short, medium and long term effects of domestic abuse.

Operation Encompass provides an efficient, confidential channel of communication between the
police, via the Domestic Abuse Hub to the Senior Designated Safeguarding Leads. This enables the
immediate and discrete recognition of the child's situation by key school staff, ensuring a secure and
sympathetic environment is provided and the broader effects of abuse are addressed.

This information is shared by the Police with schools regardless of whether parental permission to
share the information has been provided at the time of Police attendance at the domestic incident. All
records are managed at Child Protection level and are recorded securely and directly onto the
individual child safeguarding record in school in full accordance with General Data Protection
Regulations (GDPR 2018) and the Data Protection Act 2018.