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Alastair Thompson

Delivery Director, IMPOWER

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IMPOWER’s Heroes of 2023: 14 December

IMPOWER’s Heroes of 2023: 14 December

Find out who I've nominated as my hero this year...

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Reflections about the High Hopes for High Needs programme

Reflections about the High Hopes for High Needs programme

The annual programme report highlights how we work with parents, councils, education settings and many other people to deliver frontline change that makes a practical and positive difference to the lives of children and young people with different needs. 

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IMPOWER announced as delivery partner to the government’s SEND & AP programme

IMPOWER announced as delivery partner to the government’s…

Working alongside three other partners, IMPOWER will provide support to the Department for Education and the local areas involved - helping to plan, design and test reforms outlined in the Government’s SEND & AP Improvement Plan.

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The SEND & Alternative Provision Improvement Plan is here – now let’s deliver

The SEND & Alternative Provision Improvement Plan is…

Today, the Government’s eagerly awaited follow up to the SEND review: right support, right place, right time and the subsequent…

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SEND: ‘Let’s strive for progress, not perfection’

SEND: ‘Let’s strive for progress, not perfection’

We recently hosted a virtual shared learning event for 10 Directors of Children’s Services and Education, to take stock of…

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Valuing Care should be the sector norm

Valuing Care should be the sector norm

Over the past few weeks, I’ve hosted three sessions for directors, practitioners and commissioners from five councils to share with each other how they are making the most of the Valuing Care approach. Here are three of my reflections.

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DfE’s response to the fostering stocktake

DfE’s response to the fostering stocktake

We’re delighted that Nadhim Zahawi has accepted all the recommendations made in the independent report 'Foster Care in England'.

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Children’s placements: switching from lottery to logic

Children’s placements: switching from lottery to logic

  I am pleased that the debate on funding for children’s services is getting more traction at a national level,…

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Fostering Stocktake: valuing foster carers

Fostering Stocktake: valuing foster carers

Our national fostering system has been neglected for too long. Despite being the mainstay of our statutory parenting capacity, and…

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Let’s change the conversation on children in care

Let’s change the conversation on children in care

As the recent Guardian article illustrates (‘Greedy Financiers profiting from the Pain of Children’), the debate about the market for…

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Regional adoption agencies – necessity can be the mother of invention

Regional adoption agencies – necessity can be the mother…

In mulling over the quandaries facing our clients on regional adoption agencies (RAAs) I was considering how to clarify some…

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DfE’s fostering ‘stocktake’

DfE’s fostering ‘stocktake’

This month Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson committed to a “national stocktake of fostering”. In response to the national…

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Children’s Services Funding is Too Important For This Guessing Game

Children’s Services Funding is Too Important For This…

The NAO report on Children in Care laid some heavy gauntlets at the door of DfE and the wider sector last…

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