The Organisation

St Matthews Primary in Fawkner requested assistance from Formfile’s Tidy Files Australia to help them with their onsite archiving and storage.

The Challenge

St Matthew’s documents and files had been stored in various locations throughout the school and it was several years since the archives had been reviewed and catalogued. The staff and Principal Bob Brown were excited to see the Formfile School Records Management team come in to their school and help create order where they worked.

The Solution

Open bay shelving was installed in an empty room located off the current staff room, with space for the current filing and additional capacity created to store the school archiving into the future. Formfile Tidy Files type one archive boxes were chosen for their size which meant that they could easily store school documents while not becoming too heavy and creating OHS issues with the staff. A spreadsheet was created which listed the contents and location of each box which allowed for the ability for St Matthew’s to continue their archiving into the future or for the Formfile team to come in on an annual basis.

The Process

Using Formfile’s Tidy File range of archive boxes, 53 years of archives were taken from all over the school, reviewed, sorted, documented, labelled and archived into 203 archive boxes which were then stored on the newly built shelving in St Matthew’s new archive room. The student records were identified into past and present and separated from the staff personnel files, each were recorded onto the spreadsheet ensuring that the St Matthew’s team could easily locate any file.

Over 180 arch lever folders were emptied and 72 large archive boxes of material were security shredded over a ten day period which amounted to about 45% of the total paperwork reviewed. The Formfile team were responsible for the shredding and destruction ensuring that the chain of custody remained secure and confidential.

As a result of the new School Filing System, the School library was given a new lease of life as photos and mixed media were sorted and reviewed with the rediscovery of many historical items.

Staff Feedback

St Matthew’s Principal: Bob Brown was very happy with the end result and staff feedback was that St Matthew’s had a new lease on life.

BEFORE

AFTER