Dear Parents and Carers,

 

I hope you have had a good start to the school year and that your children have returned to school successfully and have begun to settle.

 

I am writing to let you know that last week, Laleham Gap welcomed a visit from the Child Centred Policing Team to discuss collaborative work and support for children and families. Some pupils may have seen officers or their vehicles around the school, but please be assured this was a planned and positive visit, marking the beginning of a closer working relationship with Kent Police.

 

The Team work closely with schools and will be visiting us regularly. Their aim is to help children and families understand the supportive role of the police, in a safe and educational way. Their visits will be starting from this week. Among other things, they will:

 

• Support the delivery of lessons from the Police Education (PolEd) curriculum;
• Attend parent events such as Question and Answer sessions or coffee mornings; • Support education days where the officers will talk to children about their roles, uniform, equipment and vehicles;
• Arrange bike security marking schemes to help in the event of a lost or stolen bicycle.

 

You will see officers visiting the school over the coming weeks, including at drop-off and pick-up times. We are also exploring suitable dates for a parent coffee morning with the team. If you see them, please feel free to say hello and help reassure your children that this is a positive partnership - no one is in trouble.

 

This initiative expands the relationship that we already have with Kent Police as an Operation Encompass School.

 

If you’d like to learn more about how schools and agencies work together to support families, please refer to the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance. A short explanatory video is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=G4ntSqMCSUI

 

These links will be active in the digital version of this letter, which will be uploaded to the school website this week.

 

Please also note that we continue to work towards achieving the Leading Parent Partnership Award, and we are always looking for new ways to support and engage with you.

 

I look forward to meeting with you at our next parent centred event to answer any questions or listen to ideas you may have, or, simply catch up. Please look out for further details soon.

 

Kind regards,

Mr Payne

Assistant Headteacher

(Safeguarding and Wellbeing