Students at Morayfield East State School must hand their phones and smartwatches in at the office, yet the school’s website promotes Minecraft, drone and robotics programmes.
What the Code Says About Personal Devices
The 2025–2028 Student Code of Conduct says students must switch off phones and smartwatches and hand them in at the office on arrival. Staff store the devices and return them at the end of the day, including through recess and lunch.
Exceptions exist. The principal can approve a device for health, safety or learning reasons. Tablets or laptops may come to school only as part of an approved learning program. The code lists gaming consoles and portable speakers as not permitted.
Breaches can lead to staff removing the device and calling parents. After repeated breaches, the device may go back only to a parent or carer. The principal and the P&C president signed the code on 1 December 2025. It sits within a statewide rule that requires state school students to keep phones switched off and away for the day during school hours, with approved exemptions, and that has applied since early 2024.
What the School Says About STEM
The school’s “Computer and internet” page promotes a Minecraft Club, a Drones Club and a Robotics program. It says students can also compete against other schools in local and regional competitions. The page shows a last-updated date of 6 June 2025, before the current code was signed.
The page does not say which activities run as clubs and which sit in the curriculum. It also does not say who supplies the devices or how staff supervise them. The documents cannot show how these programs work day to day.
What the National Meeting Did and Did Not Decide
Federal, state and territory education ministers met on 2 November 2026 and released a communique on 5 November. They agreed to introduce, trial or consider limits on screen use, and to restrict student use of generative AI in primary schools and secondary assessments, with states, territories and sectors deciding how.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare described the package as the next stage of reforms to help children learn and to support teachers, including a digital detox and stronger maths teaching for the youngest students. A new taskforce will advise ministers on further practical steps.
The communique does not set a Queensland ban. A search of public sources found no Queensland announcement of new school rules. It also found no change to the Morayfield East code since the meeting.
Early Maths and NAPLAN
Ministers also agreed to amend the Foundation to Year 2 maths curriculum. Schools can start the revised content from 2027, with implementation finishing by the end of 2029 and each jurisdiction choosing its own year. A search found no Queensland start year and no Morayfield East maths plan. The school’s 2026 annual plan lists reading and behaviour as its two priorities.
Ministers agreed Year 5 NAPLAN writing will return to pen and paper in 2028, subject to further ACARA advice on feasibility, costs and workload. Advice on Years 7 and 9 is still to come. Test delivery is separate from classroom devices and from phone rules.
Questions Families Can Ask
The published documents leave gaps that matter to local parents. They do not say whether any STEM activity costs extra, how many students take part, or whether the school supplies the devices. Families can ask the school office or the principal for details.
Published Date 12-November-2026
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