A concerted effort from across Prior's
Court has seen a near 60% drop in printing
across the organisation in three years.
Over the school year 2021/22, the equivalent of 38
trees' worth of paper was printed - down from 98.5
trees in the year 2019/20.
In real terms, this is around 821,000 pages printed in
2019/20 to approximately 381,000 pages printed in
2021/22, with associated savings of around £15,000
per year. These savings are being invested in other IT
services across Prior's Court.
This reduction is down to concerted efforts to reduce
usage led by our IT team and the introduction of
our Prior Insight data platform.
Launched in 2019 as our whole organisational
digital recording and reporting system, Prior Insight
harnesses the power of modern digital technology
to store and interrogate large amounts of data.
The system provides insights into the complexities
of autism, enabling a better understanding and
mapping of autistic behaviours.
This data used to be recorded on paper which,
as well as being inefficient for data analysis and
informed intervention for supporting our young
people, was financially costly, environmentally
damaging and resulted in increasing large archive
spaces.
Mark Bailey, our Head of Service Management,
said: "This huge reduction so far is something to be
celebrated for its positive environmental impact,
whilst the increased use of technology to replace
paper is ultimately leading to better outcomes
for the young people we support, and a more
sustainable way of operating
"We're aware around 300,000 pages of printing per
year remains a substantial amount. Part of what
makes our approach to supporting our young people
successful is the use of schedules, work/activity
systems and PECS which all necessitates the usage
of paper. So there may always be a need for printing
at Prior's Court to a certain extent.
"We are actively trying to reduce our printing totals
down further in 2022/23 with more targeted actions,
such as the recent introduction of a new internal
intranet system which reduces the need for printed
communications."
Prior's Court is a Green Flag Eco-School, a status
achieved last year as part of a project involving our
young people and staff.
Over the summer, Prior's
Court were sent wonderful
photos of former young
person Jenny as a
bridesmaid at her brother's
wedding.
At the wedding of her brother
Joe, as well as being a bridesmaid,
Jenny helped to put out furniture
in the event's marquee, lay all the
tables and decorate with flowers.
Jenny joined Prior's Court at the
age of 7 and spent more than 15
years with us. She is now 30 and is
thriving in semi-independent
living with lots of work experience
chances.
In the update sent to us, Jenny's
dad Mark outlined how the work
we do here makes a lifelong
impact. He said: "It's brilliant how
Jenny continues to grow from the
foundation and work achieved
with her at Prior's Court."
Printing reduced by 60% - saving
trees and money
Jenny's bridesmaid experience
/priorscourt @PriorsCourt @priors_court Prior's Court Foundation