As part of Families First is the roll out of our Schools’ Supervision and Support model. Between May 2024 and July 2025, we ran a pilot of school-based supervision for Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) across 10 schools. This demonstrated a positive impact, with increased DSL confidence and more families supported without the need for more intrusive social care interventions.
We have built on this success and from May 2026 the offer has been rolled out to all Sandwell schools, with four Peer Support Supervisors.
The model provides monthly family-level supervision, strengthening multi-agency working and enhancing earlier pathways to help for families. In just 3 weeks, there are signs of strong engagement with schools, supported by senior education leaders, with 34 sessions delivered.
A special thanks to Strengthening Families Managers for their leadership and support, and colleagues for their continued work in developing and delivering this offer directly to schools.