A teacher or youth leader wants to run a Minecraft server for their group. They need it safe, controlled, and aligned with educational goals. The default server setup is designed for the general public. A school server needs a different approach.
Why Minecraft in Education Works
Minecraft teaches spatial reasoning, collaboration, resource management, and basic programming through command blocks and redstone logic. Students build together, solve problems, and learn project planning. It is engaging in a way that worksheets are not.
Minecraft Education Edition exists but requires Microsoft licensing and school accounts. Many groups run regular Java Edition servers instead because they are more flexible and cheaper.
Step 1: Choose the Right Platform
| Option | Pros | Cons | |---|---|---| | Minecraft Education Edition | Built-in classroom tools, managed by Microsoft | Requires school licenses, limited modding | | Java Edition + Paper server | Full plugin support, cheaper, more flexible | Requires manual safety setup | | Bedrock Edition + Geyser | Students on tablets can join | Slightly more complex setup |
For most school groups, a Java Edition server on Paper with Geyser for tablet students is the best balance of flexibility and safety.
Step 2: Lock Down Access
Whitelist
Enable the whitelist in server.properties:
white-list=true
Add only students and teachers:
/whitelist add StudentName
/whitelist add TeacherName
Nobody else can join. This is the single most important safety setting.
Online Mode
Keep online-mode=true in server.properties. This ensures every player has a legitimate Minecraft account. It prevents unauthorized access.
Disable PVP (Optional)
If the group is young or PVP causes conflicts:
pvp=false
Step 3: Set Up Permission Groups
Use LuckPerms to create two groups: student and teacher.
/lp creategroup student
/lp creategroup teacher
Give students limited permissions:
/lp group student permission set essentials.home true
/lp group student permission set essentials.spawn true
/lp group student permission set essentials.msg true
Give teachers moderation tools:
/lp group teacher permission set essentials.kick true
/lp group teacher permission set essentials.mute true
/lp group teacher permission set essentials.teleport true
/lp group teacher permission set essentials.gamemode true
/lp group teacher permission set worldguard.region.define true
/lp group teacher permission set coreprotect.inspect true
/lp group teacher permission set coreprotect.rollback true
Teachers can manage the world. Students can play safely.
Step 4: Protect Important Areas
Use WorldGuard to protect the spawn area and any educational builds:
- Select the area with a wooden axe (left-click corner 1, right-click corner 2)
- Define the region:
/rg define school-spawn - Set flags:
/rg flag school-spawn block-break deny
/rg flag school-spawn block-place deny
/rg flag school-spawn pvp deny
Add students as members of specific build areas where they should be able to build:
/rg define student-area
/rg addmember student-area StudentName
Step 5: Monitor Activity
Install CoreProtect for block logging. Teachers can check who placed or broke any block:
/co inspect
Click any block to see its history. If a student griefed another student's build:
/co rollback u:GriefingStudent t:1h
This undoes everything that student did in the last hour.
Step 6: Chat Safety
Chat Filter
Install a chat filter plugin to block inappropriate language. Options:
- ChatControl: Configurable word filter with regex support
- AdvancedBan: Automatic mutes for banned words
Disable Private Messages (Optional)
For younger groups, disable DMs so all communication is visible:
Remove the essentials.msg permission from the student group:
/lp group student permission set essentials.msg false
Step 7: Educational Goals
Building Projects
Assign building challenges:
- Recreate a historical building or period-accurate village
- Build a model of the solar system (scale challenge)
- Design a sustainable city with farms, water, and energy (redstone)
- Create a functional calculator using redstone logic
Redstone as Programming
Redstone teaches logic gates (AND, OR, NOT), sequential circuits, and basic computing concepts. Start with:
- A door that opens when a lever is pulled (basic circuit)
- A light that turns on at night (daylight sensor)
- A combination lock (AND gates)
- A basic calculator (full adder circuits)
Command Blocks as Scripting
Command blocks introduce programming concepts:
- Variables (scoreboards)
- Conditionals (conditional command blocks)
- Loops (repeating command blocks)
- Functions (data packs)
Step 8: Scheduling
Most school servers do not need to run 24/7. Start the server before sessions and stop it after. This saves money if you pay per hour.
On Space-Node, you can start and stop the server from the panel at any time. The world data persists between sessions.
Recommended Server Specs for Schools
| Group Size | Recommended Plan | |---|---| | 5-10 students | 2 GB | | 10-20 students | 4 GB | | 20-30 students | 6 GB | | 30+ students | 8 GB |
Add 1-2 GB if using Geyser for tablet students.
Privacy and Compliance
If your school is in the EU, GDPR applies. Minecraft servers log IP addresses and usernames. Make sure:
- Parents consent to their child playing on the server
- The hosting provider stores data in the EU (Space-Node uses Netherlands datacenters)
- You have a data retention policy (delete logs after the school year ends)
- The server is whitelisted so only authorized students can access it
Space-Node servers are hosted in the Netherlands and comply with EU data storage requirements. Check the plans here.
