-2.png)
Re‑Thinking the Defaults
May 17th, 2026
State education operates at scale, relying on standardised structures to deliver learning to large numbers of pupils. While schools work hard to personalise within these constraints, curricula, timetables, and staffing models often vary less than we assume. Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning, supported by tools like WafflePlanner, creates space to question whether some of our long‑held defaults are genuine constraints — or simply untested assumptions.
-2.png)
Why Good ICFP Is Good for Staff Welfare
May 10th, 2026
Staff wellbeing is shaped every day by decisions about staffing, timetables, and responsibilities. When Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning is done well, it naturally reduces pressure by aligning curriculum need with fair, sustainable staff deployment. This article explores how good ICFP leads to better timetables, fairer workloads, and healthier working environments for staff.
-2.png)
Beyond Teaching Hours: What Else Can ICFP Measure?
May 3rd, 2026
Most trusts begin Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning by examining teaching staff, teaching hours, and lesson delivery — an essential starting point for understanding affordability and sustainability. As ICFP matures, however, it becomes clear that schools are more than timetables alone. They are complex systems of roles, responsibilities, time, and resources, and ICFP can evolve into a strategic framework for understanding how the whole organisation operates. The key question then becomes not whether ICFP can measure more, but what it is most valuable to model next.
-2.png)
Why ICFP Must Be an Ongoing Process — Not a Year‑End Exercise
April 26th, 2026
Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning (ICFP) is sometimes misunderstood as a final check at the end of the budget cycle. A set of metrics to complete once staffing decisions have been made and financial plans signed off.
In reality, this is where many trusts go wrong.
ICFP is not most powerful after decisions are made — it is most effective while those decisions are being shaped. When embedded alongside curriculum and staffing planning, ICFP becomes a living process that strengthens decision‑making, reduces risk, and improves long‑term sustainability.
Creating a simple curriculum staffing model for ICFP
April 19th, 2026
In this video we will use Waffle Planner to build a really simple model to get the data to calculate the metrics used in Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning (ICFP).
What are popular ICFP metrics and how are they calculated
February 24th, 2026
In this video, we’re going to look at the core metrics used in Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning, or ICFP.
These metrics tie together three essential elements of school planning — curriculum, staffing, and budget — and help us understand whether they’re working together effectively.
By the end, you’ll see how just a few simple numbers can give you incredibly powerful insights into how your school operates.
What is ICFP?
February 24th, 2026
Every school wants to offer the best possible education. But doing that—within tight budgets, fluctuating pupil numbers, and rising staffing pressures—is harder than ever.
That’s where Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning, or ICFP, comes in.
This video explains what it is, how it helps and why it is important.
Why Cloud‑Based ICFP Beats a Multi‑Spreadsheet Approach Across a Trust
February 23rd, 2026
For many trusts, spreadsheets have long been the default tool for curriculum and financial planning. They’re familiar, flexible, and already sitting on everyone’s desktop.
But as trusts grow in size and complexity, the limitations of a multi‑spreadsheet approach become impossible to ignore.
.png)
Why ICFP Fails in Some Trusts (and How to Fix It)
February 16th, 2026
ICFP is vital for aligning curriculum, staffing, and finances — and for keeping schools sustainable. But in many trusts, ICFP stalls or fades away, replaced by spreadsheets, assumptions, and familiar habits.
This article looks at why ICFP often fails and how to turn it into a genuinely strategic planning tool instead of an annual tick‑box exercise.