Domestic violence: Police alert NI schools more than 2,000 times

The pilot programme enables police officers to inform teachers after they attend a domestic abuse incident in a pupil's home

Schools in some areas of Northern Ireland have been alerted more than 2,000 times in less than two years about pupils affected by domestic violence.

That is according to information about the Operation Encompass scheme released by the police.

Operation Encompass enables police to tell school staff if a pupil has been affected by domestic abuse.

It began in 60 schools in County Down in 2021.

The scheme was later extended to cover about 400 other schools in County Down, County Armagh and County Tyrone.

It is now to be rolled out to a further 500 schools in Fermanagh, Enniskillen, Omagh, Cookstown, Strabane, Londonderry, Limavady, Coleraine, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Ballycastle, Antrim, Larne and Newtownabbey.

Operation Encompass is a partnership between the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Safeguarding Board Northern Ireland (SBNI), the Education Authority (EA) and schools.

If the PSNI attends a domestic abuse incident where children are present, they will contact the child's school before the next morning to inform the teachers responsible for safeguarding.

That means that the child or children involved can be offered support.

'Incredibly traumatising'

In a change to the original pilot of the scheme, the PSNI now does not need a parent's consent to report to a school that one of their pupils has been affected by an incident of domestic violence.

The PSNI said that from when the scheme began in Northern Ireland in September 2021 until January 2023 it had made 2,137 referrals to a designated teacher in a school about a pupil being affected by domestic abuse.

It said that over that period officers had attended 1,659 domestic violence incidents involving 3,111 children.

Det Supt Lindsay Fisher said children were often unseen victims of domestic abuse crimes

A referral to a school can involve more than one pupil, and one incident can result in a referral to more than one school if the children involved go to separate schools.

In a statement, the PSNI said that domestic violence could be "incredibly traumatising for children".

"Operation Encompass helps get them access to emotional support in a school environment where they have trusted adults around them.

"The information shared by police is treated in strict confidence."

The PSNI records about 22,000 domestic abuse crimes in a year and Operation Encompass "really recognises children as unseen victims" of this abuse, said Det Supt Lindsay Fisher.

"For so long we have known the impact and the trauma that children experience from seeing, overhearing, coming back into a house where there's been an argument, where there's been a domestic abuse incident."

The officer added the scheme makes a difference because teachers would know why "a child might be a little out of sorts, knowing maybe why they don't have their homework; why they're missing their lunch money, and just to be able to add that extra level of care and consideration during the school day".

'We will know that a child's behaviour has changed'

Michael Doran said Operation Encompass leaves schools better prepared to support pupils affected by violence at home

St Joseph's Primary School in Bessbrook, outside Newry, joined the scheme in February 2022.

Its vice-principal, Michael Doran, said it allows schools to better plan for and react to challenging circumstances.

"They (teachers) can be armed with strategies to support the child coming in the next day.

"No matter if something has or hasn't happened, there is a potential that we will know that a child's behaviour has changed because of a number of events, whereas before it would have been guesswork."

Mr Doran said children can react to domestic violence in different ways.

He said sometimes a pupil's behaviour immediately deteriorates, sometimes it worsens over a period of time or the child "could mask behaviour" and try to continue as normal.

However, he insisted: "A child who has experienced an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) obviously needs help.

"So if we or any school gets that phone call, we will have mechanisms in place and people in place to monitor, nurture and support."

Operate Encompass will be rolled out to all remaining schools in Northern Ireland in the summer of 2023.

The scheme has been in operation in police forces in England and Wales for a number of years.

Operation Encompass was first set up in England in 2011 by primary school head teacher Elisabeth Carney-Haworth and her husband David, who is a former police officer.