Reef Guardian School (RGS)

Reef Guardian Schools (RGS) helps hundreds of schools teach and act on Great Barrier Reef protection. Morpht moved the program's website to a simpler, lower-maintenance GovCMS platform without a single teacher needing to re-register, and added a secure resource library and online Action Plans.

Every school moved, no one re-registered

RGS now has a secure, easy-to-maintain website where teachers find curated resources and schools share their work, with every account carried across.

382 schools, 800+ users, and 150+ resources migrated to GovCMS SaaS
No user had to re-register, and every user and school relationship was preserved
A secure, teacher-only resource library, filterable by subject, year level, and resource type
Annual Action Plans submitted online and published on each school's profile
Runner-up, Splash Awards 2026 Community Impact category

Awards

Community Impact

Splash Awards 2026 Runner-up

About RGS

Drupal 11 | Convivial GovCMS Bootstrap | Migrations | Webforms | Web development

RGS is an initiative of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). It helps schools protect the Reef through classroom education, school activities, and community involvement.

The site ran on GovCMS PaaS, which allows custom code. Moving to GovCMS SaaS, the shared and lower-cost option, meant losing the Groups module that managed teacher and school relationships. We had to rebuild those features within SaaS limits without adding admin work.

Visit the site

The Reef Guardian School website screenshots

The Solution

Morpht rebuilt the site using Convivial for GovCMS, tailored to teachers, schools, and administrators. The visual identity stayed largely the same, but the platform is now more accessible, maintainable, and flexible.

Simplifying the platform

The original site relied on custom features, including a social media-style feed, that were no longer actively used. The move from PaaS to SaaS, let RGS 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.

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