From Hesitation to Confidence: What Pastoral Alerting Can Do During School Hours

Many schools hesitate to implement digital monitoring tools—often referred to (sometimes unfairly) as 'spyware'—out of concern for the legal risks tied to missing an alert. With the introduction of Australia's Right to Disconnect law, some school leaders have taken this as a signal to hold off entirely, reasoning that if staff can’t be expected to respond after hours, there’s no point in having a system in place at all.

Their concerns are valid. Schools operate under increasing pressure, with a steady rise in digital safety issues and risks, navigating unclear or inconsistent federal and state legislation around duty of care, privacy, and now, after-hours obligations under the Right to Disconnect law. The fear of being held responsible for missing a serious incident is real—and without clear national guidance, many schools understandably err on the side of caution.

But that logic misses the point.

Let’s Redefine the Conversation

“Monitoring” is a technical function—but what schools really need is pastoral alerting and reporting. These are not surveillance tools. They are tools that provide digital visibility, helping pastoral and wellbeing teams notice what students may never say out loud.

The Opportunity Schools Are Missing

This is especially true for schools that manage devices or run 1:1 programs. These schools have a unique window into student behaviour—because they control the ecosystem in which much of that behaviour occurs. When students use school-managed devices, especially in 1:1 settings, their digital activity becomes one of the most powerful (and often underused) indicators of wellbeing.

With the right systems in place, these schools can move beyond device management to proactive care:

The real value of pastoral alerting isn’t about what happens after hours—it’s about what schools can do during school hours, when they can act and already have a duty of care.

The Cost of Not Seeing

If a student searches for “how to end it all” at 11:15am…
If a student writes a distressing journal in a school doc during lunch…
If a student is being bullied in a school-managed chat at recess…

...and no one sees it—because there’s no system to alert the right people during school hours—that’s not just a missed alert. That’s a missed student in need of support.

Avoiding pastoral alerting tools out of fear of missing something after hours overlooks the fact that most issues don’t emerge overnight—they build up over time. Having real-time visibility, contextual insight, and the ability to observe behavioural trends allows schools to act earlier, not just react. Most issues can be caught and addressed during school hours, while the student is still present and surrounded by support.

And there are other costs too—opportunity costs:

• The cost of staff time wasted on investigating false positives from keyword-based filter reports.
• The cost of parent trust, especially when parents are concerned about student privacy and fear their children are being “spied on.” Without clarity on intent and process, schools may lose community confidence.
• The cost of inaction when something serious does happen on a school-managed device—and it could have been detected, escalated, and addressed.

Schools don’t need to choose between surveillance and silence. With the right system in place, they can choose visibility and action—during the hours that matter most.

What the Right System Looks Like

The best approach isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution—it’s a layered strategy. Think of it as a digital safety net:

At the base, you have filtering tools. These are essential for blocking inappropriate content and helping schools enforce acceptable use policies. They’re the first line of defence—critical for managing risk, but limited when it comes to identifying intent or emotional distress.

Above that, sits a more sophisticated layer: pastoral alerting tools like Linewize Monitor. These systems are designed to look beyond access violations and help identify when a student might be engaging in negative online behaviours or showing early signs of disengagement.

A solution like Linewize Monitor is designed to:

• Identify wellbeing concerns while the student is still at school
• Provide real-time alerts with context, not noise
• Help wellbeing teams prioritise and respond quickly
• Work within the hours and limits that schools set.

This isn’t about replacing filters—it’s about elevating the school’s response capability with a specialised, student-focused layer that complements your existing systems.

It’s not about asking staff to be always on—it’s about making the most of the time they’re already there.

Let’s stop viewing this as a legal liability? And start seeing it as a missed opportunity to identify issues and trends before things become critical. 

To discuss whether this type of approach is right for your school, get in touch. We’re here to help you explore what’s possible.