Woodlands Secondary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its children. 

Woodlands Secondary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its children. We believe that:

• all children/young people have an equal right to be protected from harm
• children/young people need support which matches their individual needs, including those who may have experienced abuse
• all children/young people have the right to speak freely and voice their values and beliefs
• where there is a safeguarding concern, governing bodies, proprietors and school or college leaders should ensure the child’s wishes and feelings are taken into account when determining what action to take and what services to provide
• all children/young people must be encouraged to respect each other’s values and support each other
• all children/young people have the right to be supported to meet their emotional and social needs as well as their educational needs
• schools can and do contribute to the prevention of abuse, victimisation, bullying, exploitation, extreme behaviours, discriminatory views and risk taking behaviours which may be perceived to be ‘risky’
• all staff, volunteers and visitors have an important role to play in safeguarding children and protecting them from abuse.
• he school has a zero tolerance approach to sexual violence and sexual harassment

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass.

This is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse. Operation Encompass means that the police will share information about Domestic Abuse incidents with our school PRIOR to the start of the next school day when they have been called to a domestic incident.

Once a Key Adult (DSL) has attended an Operation Encompass briefing they will cascade the principles of Operation Encompass to all Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL). 

Our parents are fully aware that we are an Operation Encompass school. The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information.

The DSL has also led training for all school staff and Governors about Operation Encompass, the prevalence of Domestic Abuse and the impact of this abuse on children. We have also discussed how we can support our children following the Operation Encompass notification. We are aware that we must do nothing that puts the child/ren or the non abusing adult at risk.

The Safeguarding Governor will report on Operation Encompass in the termly report to Governors. All information is anonymised for these reports. The DSL has used the Operation Encompass Toolkit to ensure that all appropriate actions have been taken by the school.