Email
The department provides all Queensland state school staff and students with an Education Queensland email account hosted in Microsoft Office 365.
All emails sent to and from Queensland state school students are scanned by Microsoft's automated systems to identify viruses, phishing scams, spam and other malicious materials.
School’s determine when they will provide the details of the email account to students.
OneDrive
OneDrive for Business is an integral part of Microsoft Office 365. It provides a place on the internet where school-related files can be securely stored, shared and synced.
Students can access their files from school and home. The application offers access to 5TB of storage, and an expanded suite of Office Online web applications, including OneNote, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
OneDrive is only available at OneDrive enabled schools. Parents should contact their school for more details.
Internet filtering
The department has a responsibility in ensuring the safety of students while using the internet at school and on any school-provided device.
Through the internet filtering system Symantec WebFilter, the type of content that students may be exposed to while online is restricted by the system’s website categorisation process.
Access restrictions are enforced by filtering categories and policies. Categories are assigned to web pages and web applications based on site content. Categories play a role in determining
what online services are unblocked or blocked for students.
The department ensures websites and web applications are blocked if they are inappropriate, malicious, illegal, dangerous or conflict departmental policy. Students can speak with their teacher if they believe an evaluation of a website or web application should be completed.
Students accessing the internet at home on a school device, will continue to experience internet filtering comparable to their experience at school. Parents/caregivers can request to reduce the level of filtering restrictions on their child’s device by speaking with their school and accepting the risks associated with increasing their access.
Parents are reminded that filtering and monitoring systems are not foolproof and do not replace the need for parental supervision when children are online. Vigilance is vital regardless of the device your child is using to access the internet.
There are a number of online resources for parents and caregivers to help support their child’s online experiences.
Please remember, as a parent or caregiver you play an important role in helping your children have safe and positive experiences online. Be vigilant and keep an eye on what your child is doing.
Wi-fi
In recent years, there has been much discussion about the possible effects of electromagnetic radiation on human health, including both radio frequency (RF) and power frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF).
Standards
The department follows both Australian and international standards for the installation and use of technology, including wi-fi in schools:
The department has a number of measures in place to ensure staff and student safety in regards to the use of wi-fi and portable devices, including:
- creation of a third-party standing arrangement to provide an audit capability ensuring the department’s contractors are accredited with respect to their compliance with network infrastructure standards—schools can use this service for electromagnetic radiation audits
- recommendations that at all times the manufacturers guidelines are followed when using ICT equipment.
Free Microsoft Office 365 for students and school staff
All Queensland state school teaching staff and students can download multiple free copies of the latest Microsoft Office to their personal home computers and mobile devices.
Some non-teaching staff are also entitled to use their departmental account to download and activate Microsoft Office applications on their personal devices.
Casual staff, cleaners, miscellaneous workers, and non-departmental staff including contractors and volunteers are no longer entitled to use their departmental account to download and install the Microsoft Office Apps suite on their personal devices. These staff will be required to purchase their own copy of Microsoft Office or their own Microsoft 365 subscription if they wish to use the Office Apps on their personal devices.
School teaching staff and students already have the correct licence assigned. Other eligible staff will need a licence assigned to their account prior to installation. These staff will need to log a request to Service Centre to obtain a subscription prior to installation. Please use the online form at the Service Catalogue Online, or call the Service Centre on 1800 680 445. Please note, the IT Service Centre is only able to speak with departmental employees. Parents and students, please speak with your school for further assistance.
Microsoft Office 2016 is available for personal devices only, not devices owned by the department or part of a school network. Errors and conflicts will occur if Office 2016 is downloaded on departmental devices, as these devices already have a licenced copy of Microsoft Office.
Your Office subscription lasts for as long as you’re a Queensland state school student or school-based staff member.
Download process
For PC and Mac, visit
portal.office.com, login using your school email address, click through to install and follow the onscreen process.
For tablets and smartphones, download from your app store and sign in with your school email address.
If you have trouble, please refer to the instructions on how to download and install Microsoft Office 365 to your personal home computers: