Introduction from Inspector Jas Kaur, Schools Lead for Enfield

FAO: All Schools / All Phases

Dear Headteachers (primary and secondary), PRUS, Safeguarding and SEND leads

Introduction:

I hope you are keeping well and looking forward to the school Summer break.

You may have met me virtually at the last Headteachers seminar organised by the Director of Education Peter Nathan.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the Policing lead for schools in Enfield appointed on the  7th June. I am keen to meet with you all, however the challenge of managing 65 primary schools, 21 secondary schools, 3 PRUs and specialist schools and colleges this may prove to be a challenge to achieve this is in a short timeframe so please bear with me.

My 6 month plan is to meet with all secondary schools in person with priority schools (priority based on central schools Mets criteria such as crime figures, hotspots, kids free school meals etc.) on the list first together with PRU’s. I am hoping to meet with primary schools at the ETHA (hope this is the correct acronym) to meet 65 primary schools leads  virtually.

I am mindful that each school is different and a ‘one fit’ for all approach may not be suitable. I am reliant on engagement between yourselves and Safer school officers (SSO’s) to feedback what your individual needs are as a leadership team.

My pledge:

I would like to pledge that I am not one to over promise and under deliver. I would rather under promise and over deliver remaining accessible, transparent and accountable to you. I am keen to build relationships with yourselves.

Based on the feedback to date I am led to believe that the lack of relationships with the Police is an area that is of concern to you sharing that some of you have little to nil confidence in Police, but where its working well the feedback is that having an officer that is capable (words that have been used during our meetings) and visible and in post for the long term does make a difference.

I will be transparent and realistic regularly communicating with you, because often communication is where the gaps are together with the unknown and understanding the ‘why’ which can result in loss of confidence in Policing.

I would respectfully ask that any feedback/concerns in the first instance are reported to your SSO. If there are concerns that you feel are not being managed please escalate to Sgts Velda Ewen and Sgt Mehmet Ganidagli and they in turn will manage the issue and where required escalate the matter to me. A mailbox will be set up shortly and details shared with you.

To ensure a two way process we shall seek to equally apply the same approach in reaching out to yourselves. At the moment the ask and expectations of each school officer appears to differ from school to school. To remedy this I shall be relying on each SSO to work with the schools to decide who is their ‘go to’ person e.g. SG, behaviour leads and/or Headteachers to ensure there is no further breakdown of communication between Police and partners. This as you can imagine can become an onerous task to meet and manage each need and therefore our default position shall always be to send you an email if the matter is urgent otherwise communication shall be shared via the SSO. If this is not working please do let us know.

Data:

I have drawn on some data from 2019 from Pam ESHA to capture the ongoing concerns, gaps and good work. See attached.  

I shall review the content and come back to you with a plan of next steps. Some items such as consistency may not be realistic given the pathway development opportunities and resources available in Policing, but one I endeavour to influence, but I cannot promise a change. This is the same for abstractions when officers are required to police sporting events, protests etc the pool of officers are drawn from local BCU’s to manage the demand and risk in Policing.

Expectations:

Sometimes it may feel that officers are not responding straight away this may be frustrating, however due to SSO’s workload managing risk they are asked to prioritise where they need to spend their time a process that is supervised daily overseen by both Sgts Velda Ewen and Sgt Mehmet Ganidagli both who are very experienced managers.

If there is an ‘urgency’ and SSO is not at school please dial 999 or 101 if the matter cannot wait until you speak with the SSO. The new officers do not have mobile phone,  but in line with their 2 week planner they should share with you of their 2 week commitments and how to contact them.

To ensure greater visibility in schools I am seeking to find a way of how they can (if allowed) dock their work tablets to your desktop computers which will prevent them having to attend the police station to carry out admin functions. If there is no issues our end in terms of IT policy we shall check and work with you if this is a suitable approach in line with your policy.   

Aims:

  1. Improve strategic engagement
  2. Intelligence sharing ‘Dare to share’ approach to Intelligence sharing to SG YP and to mitigate wider risk
  3. Crime prevention advice to YP, Partners and Parents through regular presentations and maybe a roadshow /seminar post C-19.
  4. Visibility in schools
  5. To capture what are your priorities vs Mets priorities to where we can to align delivery.

Progress so far:

I have met with or have meetings scheduled with…

  1. SEND leads to work together to improve relationships with SEND YP and Policing to educate our officers sharing awareness of SEND.
  2. PSHE – I am meeting with PSHE lead in Enfield council to learn about the PSHE products and our products and accessibility of lesson plans/presentations in schools and menu of options for PSHE lessons to learn if there are gaps/duplication.
  3. I have secured a 100 day planned visit with our central Design out crime team to discuss on how we can improve SYV in Enfield.
  4. I have reviewed DSA signed agreements. All apart from a few schools have not signed an agreement; this is something we are keen to work with you on to create a smoother transition of information sharing
  5. Due to C-19 the Junior citizenship plan for year 6 primary schools is not going ahead in person, but plans are being looked at to deliver a virtual programme – a programme that helps support the transition for YP in to mainstream schools.
  6. I have set up a meeting with Enfield Council to reach out to school guvnors a key partner and voice both into schools and in to our communities to help engagement and build trust and confidence
  7. Operation Raphael. We have secured a small pot of funding for officers to patrol ‘hot spots’ after school hours up to 18:00hrs to safeguard YP to and from school. I am keen to build this with volunteers, CAPE chairs and businesses to work in collaboration mobilising our partners to SG YP.
  8. Truancy patrols. We are seeking to carry out truancy patrols with Enfield Council.  Plan not in place yet, but something tbc
  9. We are working closely with both the Central safer schools team for the Met and National lead for YP to capture best practice nationally and promote the work and gaps in Enfield
  10. We have secured or due to secure slots with all schools deliver awareness in schools covering  County Lines, CSE, Prevent (CT) and Violence against Women and Girl.  A plan is being revised to deliver this before the end of term, however given the enormity of the task to cover both north and south schools this may carry on after summer leave.
  11. I am working with Mervin Cato Nexus to learn about opportunities for YP and Rafique in Enfield Council Youth lead to better understand and for our SSO’s to promote the opportunities available for YP in schools. I am seeking to work in partnership with London Village Network which is an App a child can download to seek out diversion activities and/around Enfield.
  12. My team are working closely with Enfield borough ward officers to patrol together and share intelligence to reduce serious violence.
  13. Following on from learning from a debrief following a stabbing in Pymmes park I have set up an internal gateway process with NA Robbery teams that any robbery involving a YP that attend our schools be it a victim and/or suspect they must engage with their local schools officers and not to go straight into schools. This approach shall hopefully seek to remedy the lack of comms and many emails that can be triggered as a result of an incident.
  14. Building on item 13 we shall prepare a process with you that you are aware of processes and how you can support with an investigation without risking the evidence.
  15. I am looking into whether in the event of a serious incident such as ‘stabbing’ whether we will benefit from a schools gold groups where we can provide an update; offer assurance and confidence to school leads to help with your communication helping to manage the community concerns which we all now can be exacerbated by social media.  
  16. I am in the process of setting up a Task and finish working group that reports in to the North area violence group. Once this is in place I shall share further details.

How do you contact us? As alluded to above in the first instance please speak with your SSO. Any matters that need to be escalated or share good news etc please drop us an email to our mailbox (details to follow) a system where you can reach us from 8am – 18:00hrs Monday to Friday.

SSO status:

Currently due to an uplift of 21 officers we are able to place an officer in each secondary school until November. In primary schools you have named contact officers Lauren Banks and Simon Odong. We are working with Lucy Nutt to discuss where possible to send you updates on the head teachers hub, however due to the hub being in the public domain this may not always be possible and therefore our default position shall be an email.

Schools leadership team:

Myself – operational and delivery tactical lead reporting to Supt Jones Senior strategic lead and CI Waterfield – strategic operational lead covering both Haringey and Enfield schools

Sgt Mehmet Ganidagli – Manager

Sgt Velda Ewen – Manager

Mailbox details to follow shortly.

We look forward to working and learning from you to improve trust and confidence and reduce youth violence creating a space for our young people to feel safe to and from school.

All the best.

Inspector Jas Kaur (previous surname Moxham)

Schools Lead for Enfield NA. Sgts Velda Ewen and Sgt Mehmet Ganidagli

VAWAG Prevention NA lead

Op Boxster NA – Sgt Ian Davey

Co-chair for Unity