Does ICFP work for primary schools?

I used to hear the above question all the time and I thought we’d moved past it until I was brought up short in a discussion today when it was asserted that ICFP was pointless in a one form of entry primary school as it couldn’t tell you anything about your school.

I took a deep breath and pointed out that the majority of the school’s budget was being used on staffing and wouldn’t it be good to know how the school’s investment in staffing, specifically in the categories of teaching, curriculum support staff and non-curriculum support staff, compared with other schools.

Again, it was asserted that there was no point knowing as there wasn’t anything the school could do to adjust this anyway.

I was about to respond when the next truism was raised: the increasing level of SEND need means that greater numbers of curriculum support staff are needed and the school couldn’t afford this increase. Well, I countered, wouldn’t it be useful to know where there might be efficiency opportunities so you can balance your budget?

Again, I was told, there was no point in knowing as balancing the budget was impossibility anyway.
Sometimes you have to know when to stop talking. So, I did.

I did, however, subsequently look up that school’s financial performance and noted that the latest financial information showed a significant in-year deficit.

So, does ICFP work for primary schools? Absolutely, it does.

Can ICFP help schools to identify the areas where there are opportunities for further savings? Yes, it most certainly can.

Will ICFP help a primary school to set a balanced budget? Certainly.

So why don’t more primary schools use ICFP?