SAFEGUARDING

The school takes its Child Protection responsibility seriously and aims to protect and safeguard the welfare of children and young people in its care.

Our ethos fosters partnership between school and parents, listening to and valuing pupils, training staff to be aware of signs and symptoms of abuse and carrying out the correct procedures, maintaining a safe school environment, and working in partnership with other agencies in this area.

Trust Designated Safeguarding Lead:  Mr N Heath	Milford's Designated Safeguarding Lead:  Mrs C Laverty	Milford's Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead:  Mr L Hancock	Milford's Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead:  Mr T Houlihan	Milford's PFSA:  Mrs J St Ville

Please speak to any member of our safeguarding team should you wish to know more about these procedures.  A copy of our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy is available using the link below:

 If you are worried about a child or young person who could be in immediate danger, please contact:

• Children's Social Care on 0300 123 2224
• or the police by dialling 999 (or 101 if you feel the child is note at risk of immediate harm)

If you have safeguarding concerns regarding a child's welfare that you would like to share with us, please email [email protected] or complete our Online Safeguarding Concerns form available here.

We want to ensure that our children have the best support possible and we work closely with other agencies to ensure this. We are therefore part of Operation Encompass working with police partners to support children who experience domestic abuse.

If you would like advice or support regarding domestic abuse, please contact school to speak to one of the DSL team. Guidance and support can also be accessed through Somerset Domestic Abuse — Contact us

Milford Junior School is part of Operation Encompass which is a national scheme that operates jointly between schools and police forces.

Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has experienced domestic abuse.

As a school setting, we have ensured that a member of our staff, (Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Laverty) known as a Key Adult, has been trained in the Operation Encompass procedures allowing us to then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to support the child/ren in our care.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 identifies children who experience domestic abuse as victims of domestic abuse in their own right.

On 24 May 2024 Royal Assent was granted to The Victims and Prisoners Act. The Act placed Operation Encompass into Law.

This places a statutory obligation on police forces to share Operation Encompass notifications with schools and other educational settings.

We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and through Operation Encompass we will be able to provide the best possible support to our children.