Safeguarding

Safeguarding in the Early Years means taking all necessary steps to keep children safe, healthy and well cared for. In our preschool, safeguarding is at the heart of everything we do. It includes protecting children from harm or neglect, promoting their physical and emotional wellbeing, and ensuring they grow and learn in a safe, nurturing environment. We work closely with families and other professionals to support children’s welfare and always act in their best interests.

We understand that safeguarding can be a sensitive topic and it is important that information is kept strictly confidential. To contact our Designated Safeguarding Lead Sophie North and/or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead Alison Leaman please use:

Email : safeguarding@clystvalleypreschool.org
Or
Telephone : 01392 876615

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass is a national police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children who experience Domestic Abuse. It is in place in every police force in England and Wales, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar.

Children were recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act.

Operation Encompass means that the local police force will notify the Early Years and Childcare Service about all police attended Domestic incidents where children under the age of 5 are known to be, whether they are present at the time or not. Police notifications are sent to the EYCS throughout the day, so as a setting we may receive a phone call at any point during operating hours. If the child is known to attend our setting, the Early Years and Childcare Adviser will contact our safeguarding team (Sophie North/Alison Leaman) and inform them that there has been a police attended incident. This notification informs us about the general context of the incident and includes the Voice of the Child.

We are aware that as a result of this notification, we must not do anything that puts the child/ren, or, the non-abusing adult at risk.

Our role is to provide support to the child/ren if needed, and to the family if they choose to voluntarily share information about the incident with us. If, as a result of the phone call, we have concerns regarding the safety or welfare of the child/ren, we will follow our standard safeguarding procedures for escalating and reporting concerns to Front Door/MASH, and the child’s allocated social worker if they have one.

The Operation Encompass notification is recorded in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information.