A PIONEERING Skipton business responsible for ‘revolutionising safeguarding practices in schools’ is celebrating after scooping a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

CPOMS, which provides safeguarding, pastoral and wellbeing solutions for schools across the world, was one of two businesses to be recognised for innovation; three other businesses claimed the accolade for international trade from the North Yorkshire Lieutenancy area .

Judges recognised that the software used by CPOMS as the first system of its kind on the market. The online system is used by more than 1,800 primary and secondary schools in Yorkshire to log any concerns relating to the wellbeing of a pupil, whether pastoral, safeguarding, or in relation to child protection.

Set up in 2011 and based at the Acorn Business Park, it is said to have revolutionised the safeguarding of school children and is now used in more than 12,000 schools across the world.

It has allowed schools to move from paper-based systems to an online system, so bringing together all the tools staff need to safeguard pupils and remains the market leader after more than nine years, with almost half of the UK’s schools on its roster.

John Wild, managing director, said: “The key aim of our software has always been to improve safeguarding practices and to save time for teachers and school staff so they can focus on their pupils. For it to be recognised with a Queen’s Award in this way, as a truly innovative solution, is fantastic and we’re very proud to say we’ve created something that has revolutionised safeguarding practices in schools across the UK, and now internationally.”

“This award really is the cherry on top of nine years of continued growth. Having worked closely with our education partners to understand what they need to best protect their pupils, our software is now being used across every single local authority in England and in more than 23 countries internationally - a figure that we’re confident will continue to grow over the next few years.”

Sophie Murfin, executive principal at Wise Owl Trust, based in Manchester, said: “When I became Executive Principal across the Trust, CPOMS was one of the first changes that I made across the academies. It has allowed the Executive Team to have a live overview of the Trust 24/7. This has proven to be invaluable not only for the safety of our children and families, but also to support and give continuing professional development to our teams within school.

The Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Johanna Ropner, said: “I would like to congratulate the five winners who have been recognised for international trade and innovation. We work in partnership with the Local Enterprise Partnership to both promote the awards and ensure some of our most successful businesses are recognised at the highest level.”

David A Kerfoot MBE DL, Chair of the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK and I am delighted to see we have five worthy winners from the region. They have all proved significant commercial success, and it is important to recognise such achievements of those businesses so close to home.”