Headteachers have given their backing to a scheme which allows police to let schools know when one of their pupils has been affected by domestic abuse.

The National Association of Head Teachers’ annual conference voted today for a motion calling for the union to support and promote Operation Encompass after a successful pilot project.

During a six-week trial police sent text messages to a named person at a school whenever there was a domestic abuse incident at a pupil’s home.

All of the 37 schools who took part in the trial in Crawley, West Sussex, have now signed up to the scheme.

Four of five schools had never previously had any notification from the police about incidents involving their pupils.

Putting forward the motion at the NAHT conference today, Julie Simpson, executive head teacher of St Barnabas multi academy trust in Cornwall, said: “We really want Operation Encompass to go on to the next level now. It is such a simple concept but it is so effective.

“It just requires one phone call from the police to a nominated Key Adult in a school, prior to 9am on the morning after a domestic incident has happened in the child’s home. Having that knowledge allows us to put support in place for the child immediately.”

The approved motion said: “Conference calls on NAHT to support the work of Operation Encompass and to promote this innovative approach to information sharing between police and schools to support families experiencing domestic abuse.”

The Crawley pilot took place in November 2017.