Is ICFP too broad?

Some approaches to ICFP don’t differentiate between schools on the basis of contextual features like geographical area, socio-economic background or outcomes. The ICFP.school dashboard allows you to base your analysis on many contextual features, for example:

You can use all schools nationally, or all academies nationally or all LA maintained schools nationally.

You can look at schools of the same phase – including middle schools and all-through schools – nationally or within your LA, or within inner, outer or all London.

You can select to look at schools with a similar socio-economic context or, for instance, other schools with a resourced provision.

You can look at your metrics against successful schools: those with higher progress and assessment outcomes and Outstanding Ofsted outcomes.

The ability to look at your schools metrics against successful schools means that the decisions you make have a genuinely evidence-based rationale. You are not looking at the general patterns of spending, but are comparing your school against the schools that achieve the best outcomes, and the best progress, for their pupils.