It is almost 15 years since Elisabeth Carney-Haworth, then headteacher at Torpoint Nursery and Infant School in Cornwall, and her husband David, a police sergeant, began their crusade.
Through Operation Encompass, Elisabeth and David determined to bring information to schools that could help them support the victims of domestic abuse.
Operation Encompass is a police and education early information safeguarding partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support to children experiencing domestic abuse.
Finally, in April last year, Operation Encompass was tabled in the House of Lords as an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill. And in May Royal Assent was given making Operation Encompass a legal requirement for all police services in England and Wales.
Operation Encompass is the process by which a trained “key adult” in a school will be informed by the police prior to 8:30am if a pupil of the school has been involved in, or has witnessed, a domestic abuse incident.
With this crucial information, schools can then be ready to play a proactive and informed role in protecting and supporting the child.
And this is, sadly, desperately needed. The latest child in need statistics (DfE, 2024) show that of referrals in the year to March 2024, domestic abuse was a factor in more than 240,000 cases, including 55,000 cases where the child was a victim of the abuse and not just living with the abuse.
How it all started
“We had a six-year-old boy whose behaviour suddenly changed in the classroom,” Ms Carney-Haworth told Headteacher Update. “He began hiding under tables and lashing out at school staff.
“We later discovered that he had been involved in a violent domestic abuse incident. Had we known this, it would have helped us address the issues he was facing.”
In 2010, many people still saw domestic abuse as a private matter with children completely lost in the narrative. Even domestic abuse services and charities would only refer to children – if they were referred to at all – as an adjunct to the adult victim.
However, Ms Carney-Haworth is clear: “Children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right.”
The creation of Operation Encompass brought a fresh perspective. Police officers were encouraged to “see” the children at the incidents they attended. If they shared the knowledge of that incident with a child’s school, then support would be there for that child, making a difference not just on that day but every day.
The new law in practice
The new legislation has come as an acknowledgement of the impact that Operation Encompass has had.
“Schools will not necessarily notice anything different,” explained Ms Carney-Haworth. “Operation Encompass is already happening but it’s about maintaining fidelity to our principles and ensuring that no force can ever ‘suspend’ Operation Encompass – as one did during the pandemic; a decision that was linked to the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.”
The principles of Operation Encompass include that:
- All domestic abuse incidents will be shared regardless of the risk assessment.
- The notification from the police is shared prior to the start of the next school day with the school’s trained key adult – usually the designated safeguarding lead – so that the school can be ready and prepared.
- The notification includes the voice of the child and the context of the incident.
Once schools have received the information then they should apply their own judgement and professional knowledge to decide how to proceed.
It might be the simplest acts of kindness, compassion and understanding that make a difference. School staff are not asked to be counsellors or therapists, what really matters is that the school culture provides safe, secure and nurturing relationships within a trusted and safe environment.
What schools should do
Each situation is unique and does not necessarily mean that a child should be taken out of the classroom or given any form of additional counselling. This might be the last thing they want or need at this time.
Rather, it is about reducing sources of significant stress. Having someone to talk to if they wish is particularly important. It can also be what the school doesn’t do that counts. For example, not punishing the child if they are late, have not completed homework, or if they are missing uniform.
Ms Carney-Haworth emphasised: “We are keen to stress with schools that whatever actions they take after an Operation Encompass notification, what they must not do is place the adult or child victim at any additional risk or ‘retraumatise’ through actions or words.”
A vital part of the impact of the scheme is opening channels of communication: “When the school’s involvement in Operation Encompass is known by the whole parent community, parents and children will understand that they can talk to school staff and be supported if they are experiencing domestic abuse.
“We find that parents will then come in and talk, as will children, even when the police have not been called. However, we do ask in these cases that schools check with parents for how long they can safely stay and talk without putting themselves at risk.”
Most important is the recognition that there can be no blanket approach. Schools should use their professional expertise, their training, the guidance from Operation Encompass (see further information) and their own knowledge of the family and the child to decide upon the best way forward.
A whole-school approach
It isn’t only about managing individual cases, but showing that the school is a place where domestic abuse is recognised and where support is available. Schools should ensure that:
- All staff, including governors, are aware of Operation Encompass and are educated about domestic abuse and its impact.
- All staff demonstrate “professional curiosity” about the living experience of their children.
- Operation Encompass forms part of the school’s safeguarding policy, is included on the school website, and is communicated to new families.
- Information is visible in school through the use of posters and leaflets.
- There is training for all staff about domestic abuse, the impact on children, and the ways in which schools can support them.
- All staff are alert to the signs that domestic abuse may be occurring in a family.
- Parents are aware that the school has an understanding about domestic abuse and that support is available to the family non-judgementally.
Children involved in domestic abuse may not be known to other services and so schools have a key safeguarding role. Domestic abuse crosses all nationalities, ages and level of advantage in society. It is not confined to any one group of people and has a far-reaching impact.
Not finished yet
Elisabeth and David are still pioneering for schools’ role in safeguarding children to be given greater weight and to receive more respect from other safeguarding partners. They also want domestic abuse to be recognised as a definable crime and for the age limit on domestic abuse to be removed. Removing these age restrictions would have meant that the murder of Holly Newton would have been classed as domestic abuse rather than knife crime. It might also mean that teenagers like Holly can be enabled to recognise the signs of coercive control and be helped to deal with it.
There are ambitions to extend the reach of Operation Encompass beyond England and Wales to other countries too. It has already been introduced in Gibraltar, Northern Ireland, and Ministry of Defence schools in Germany and Cyprus. As Earl Howe said in the House of Lords: “By enshrining the scheme in law, we can ensure that it is consistently applied across all forces. This will help improve early intervention and enable the most vulnerable children to be safeguarded from the harms of domestic abuse.”
- Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher. Read her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/suzanne-oconnell
Headteacher Update Spring Term Edition 2025
This article first appeared in Headteacher Update's Spring Term Edition 2025. This edition was sent free of charge to UK primary schools in January 2025. A free-to-download digital edition is also available via www.headteacher-update.com/content/downloads
Further information & resources
- DfE: Children in need, 2024: https://buff.ly/3PiUoAd
- Operation Encompass: For information and handbooks on how schools can support pupils after receiving a notification, and free online Operation Encompass training and resources, visit www.operationencompass.org