What do you do with all the bits of paper?

[YogiYoni]

Just started a new job and I'm I overwhelmed with bits of paper. Notes from meetings. Notes from inset. Notes about particular kids. Notes about new specifications. Prints outs of exam results. Policies on this. Statements on that. Im at the stage where I don't know what's important and what isn't. What do you DO with it?

(Longer term filing solutions also greatly appreciated)

Thank you!

[WelshMoth]

Yogi if you're an NQT, then stick everything in a box file (with notes perhaps, to remind yourself).

If you're not NQT, I'd still
Keep stuff, especially stuff you've contributed too because you'll need it as evidence for your upper pay scale.

Box file, bung it in, sort it when you need it.

[WelshMoth]

(NQT - you'll need it as 'evidence'
For your file too) .

[YogiYoni]

Not an NQT

Just drowning in 'bits' and I can't work out how to store it so I can access it. Quite like the idea of just bunging it in a box file and ignoring until someone asks about any of it.

[FrogsLegs31]

There is more to life than this

My approach is to put everything that I am unlikely to need to look at again into a pile in a drawer and forget about it until the rare occasion that I actually need to refer to it. I keep the pile in chronological order so an unexpected search is easier

[MaisyPops]

I have one folder for reference documents e.g. staff handbooks, duty rotas, assembly rotas etc.

I have one part of a filing cabinet for all my gcse/a level info e.g specs, mark schemes etc

I have one folder for my class things with a divider per class. Anything linked to the class eg notes on a child, sen info, round robins etc goes in there.

I have a notebook so all my meeting notes go in a notebook. I do small jobs as soon as possible and then cross them off.

Reminders I put on a whiteboard near my desk to job my memory (e.g. no assembly, send tom to see mr so and do).

Most things fit in those categories I find

[MrsWooster]

Does your photocopier have a scan function...? Bin the paper!

[Cynderella]

When you get the crap from staff meetings that you'll never look at, a box file is fine. For stuff about current classes (SE info, seating plans etc), I put everything is a display folder (a ring binder would do) and leave it near my desk in case I might need cover unexpectedly.

Data from previous classes can go in the box file, but I trim current data and stick it in my planner on the mark sheet pages, or file with seating plans etc.

For teaching notes, I have ring binders for every GCSE/A' Level text and file everything in some sort of order. KS3 is one folder for each year group. I prefer ring binders because it's easy to find something quickly. I get the lids from boxes of photocopier paper and store sets of past papers in those. When I have stuff at the end of a lesson, I put it in a stackable filing tray for that class.When I have time, I file it.

Try to find somewhere to put all these folders. Try to have papers in boxes even if not filed rather than laying around. Get rid of what you can - I often leave meeting without the handouts, especially if I'm told there's a copy on the network.

[Doomhutch]

I've found it really effective to pile it on my desk under kids' work and trays and bits of displays and torn books and confiscated things for a few months, and then finally have an evening with no marking and take the time to chuck it all in the bin.

[YogiYoni]

I've found it really effective to pile it on my desk under kids' work and trays and bits of displays and torn books and confiscated things for a few months, and then finally have an evening with no marking and take the time to chuck it all in the bin.


Thank you. I think I'll do a mixture of that and some of @Maisy's ideas

[Calmanglass]

Honestly I bin it... unless it's something vitally important. Things that are important end up in a filing cabinet and I go through every few years and chuck anything not looked at since it went in. There's far too much paper in the job to keep every little thing.

[YogiYoni]

This is the problem: new school so I don't yet know what's important. I think I'm going to shove it in a drawer and hope no one asks.

[Apple23]

Get a day-book (ring-bound, lined paper) to write meeting notes and important conversations in. Keep it with you all the time, use it for anything you need to remember; don't use multiple post-it notes or scraps of paper. Mark any actions with a star and cross off when done (or transferred to the jobs list). Staple anything you will need constantly into book.

Go through the book when it is full and transfer anything still current that you need to refer to into your new book or scan it into the computer (there won't be much - my book lasts an academic year and by next year everything will either be firmly in your head or being done differently anyway).

Ask for hand-outs from meetings and in-house training to be emailed to everyone or up-loaded to staff drive. Don't take paper copies away - use the day-book for your notes, not the PowerPoint handout.

Scan or photograph hand-outs from external trainers. Then bin the paper version.

Clip-board on desk for important but short-term info, e.g. arrangements for a particular event -bin once no longer needed.

Class folder for data and pupil information.
Box-File for evidence for Performance Management.
Class test papers etc. in old photocopy boxes.

File the rest in the circular file by the classroom door (or the confidential waste bin obviously). Anything that you find you need in the future which has "gone" will be re-issued, on a computer somewhere or "filed" under someone's desk.

[BarbaraBitchFace]

I've put all mine in a folder and will slowly sort through it and chuck bits that are not needed. Try to make notes in a notebook and if you're given dates for things write them straight in your diary.

Don't make notes from inset unless you absolutely have to! Or from training for that matter. I rarely go back and look at them anyway.

I'm in a new school and in the same position but I have a folder with dividers labelled Maths, English, Date, Misc., Assessment etc