Reef Guardian School

Morpht rebuilt the Reef Guardian School site on GovCMS SaaS, introducing a secure teacher resource library, topic-based content structure, and streamlined webforms for schools to submit action plans and news.

Overview

Drupal 10 | Convivial GovCMS Bootstrap | Migrations | Webforms | Web development

The Reef Guardian School (RGS) program, an initiative of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), allows schools to contribute in a positive way towards Reef protection. The schools promote stewardship of the Great Barrier Reef in students through classroom education, school activities, and community involvement.

Morpht was engaged to rebuild and migrate the RGS site from GovCMS PaaS to SaaS. The project aimed to preserve key features, provide enhancements to the user and editorial experience, and improve access to teacher-only content and school provided material.

While the site’s visual identity remained largely intact, the rebuild provided the opportunity to introduce a more accessible, maintainable, and flexible platform.

Visit the site

The Reef Guardian School website screenshots

The challenge

Migrating from GovCMS PaaS to SaaS introduced architectural and functional limitations. Core features such as those powered by the Groups module, which previously supported teacher and school relationships, were no longer available in the SaaS environment.

The challenge was to reimplement those features within SaaS limitations, preserve content integrity, and improve usability for editors and end-users, without creating administrative overhead.

The Solution

Morpht delivered a complete redevelopment of the RGS site using the Convivial GovCMS Bootstrap starter site. The solution was tailored to meet the specific needs of teachers, schools, and administrators.

PaaS to SaaS migration

The original site relied on custom functionality, including a Facebook-like feed and Groups for managing users. As these features were no longer actively used, the move to SaaS allowed RGS to simplify the platform and reduce ongoing maintenance.

Content migration

The site housed 382 schools, over 800 users, and 150+ resources. Morpht executed a seamless content migration, ensuring users retained access without needing to re-register. Relationships between users and schools were preserved, minimising disruption and supporting continuity of engagement.

RGS - Hand holding iPhone with RGS account page.

Introduction of Topics

To improve content discoverability, Topics were introduced as a new way to categorise resources, events, and news. This allowed users to explore grouped content and view collections by theme or subject area.

Resources library

A new filterable and searchable library of resources was established exclusively for educators. Resources are filtered by subject, year level, and resource type, and are only available to logged-in teacher accounts, granting controlled access to high-quality teaching resources.

Teacher and School profiles

Participating schools are showcased on a Schools map, with dedicated profile pages containing school contact details, number of teachers and students, and a listing of submitted Action Plans and news articles. Each school is linked to its registered teachers, one of whom is designated as the site editor for that school’s page.

Webform Action Plans

A key feature of the program is the annual submission of an Action Plan, reports on the environmental activities and learning initiatives undertaken by each school. These are now submitted via a custom webform available to logged-in users, with submitted plans displayed publicly on the school's page to showcase their contribution.

Flexible content design

Previously, RGS had limited control over the homepage and content layouts. The new site introduces component-based content design, giving editors greater flexibility to manage and personalise pages without developer assistance.

The outcome

The redeveloped Reef Guardian School site is a secure, maintainable, and scalable SaaS-compliant site that supports long-term growth and engagement.

Teachers benefit from simplified access to a high-quality, curated library of sustainability-focused teaching resources.

Schools can now submit and share activities with ease, strengthening program visibility and collaboration across the region.

The new site has delivered editorial flexibility, usability, and performance, enabling the Reef Guardian School program to continue inspiring and equipping future generations to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

Working with Morpht has been an excellent experience. The team is professional, knowledgeable, and always approachable. Their communication is clear and timely, and they take the time to explain every aspect of the process in detail.

I especially appreciated the weekly check-ins, which provided a great opportunity to ask questions, and the ticket board, which made it easy to track progress. The team was flexible and solution-focused throughout, demonstrating true expertise by finding effective solutions to any issue that arose.

Morpht was prompt in providing quotes and consistently met deadlines, carefully factoring in time for thorough testing and troubleshooting before, during, and after delivery. Overall, they proved to be reliable partners who deliver high-quality results.

Liz Hickman | Assistant Director | Reef Education, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority