diff --git a/core/lib/workarea/core.rb b/core/lib/workarea/core.rb
index 0234eb359..8037ab318 100644
--- a/core/lib/workarea/core.rb
+++ b/core/lib/workarea/core.rb
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 require 'money-rails'
 require 'kaminari'
 require 'kaminari/mongoid'
+require 'workarea/ext/freedom_patches/mongoid_audit_log'
 require 'mongoid/audit_log'
 require 'mongoid/document_path'
 require 'mongoid/sample'
diff --git a/core/lib/workarea/ext/freedom_patches/mongoid_audit_log.rb b/core/lib/workarea/ext/freedom_patches/mongoid_audit_log.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e94023a3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/workarea/ext/freedom_patches/mongoid_audit_log.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# WA-NEW-010: Silence the BSON Symbol deprecation warning emitted when
+# mongoid-audit_log defines `field :action, type: Symbol` in Entry.
+#
+# Background: Mongoid::Fields::Validators::Macro fires a one-time warning
+# ("The BSON symbol type is deprecated; use String instead") the first time it
+# encounters a field with type: Symbol. The mongoid-audit_log gem still uses
+# Symbol for its :action field; we cannot change the gem, but we *do* override
+# the field to type: String in our decorator (see ext/mongoid/audit_log_entry.rb).
+#
+# To avoid the spurious warning from the gem's own definition, we pre-set the
+# Mongoid one-time-warned flag here — before mongoid/audit_log is required —
+# since the real fix (using String) is applied in our decorator immediately
+# after. The suppression is therefore safe and correctly scoped.
+if defined?(Mongoid::Fields::Validators::Macro)
+  Mongoid::Fields::Validators::Macro.instance_variable_set(
+    :@field_type_is_symbol_warned,
+    true
+  )
+end
diff --git a/core/lib/workarea/ext/mongoid/audit_log_entry.rb b/core/lib/workarea/ext/mongoid/audit_log_entry.rb
index 793378759..84ead9cae 100644
--- a/core/lib/workarea/ext/mongoid/audit_log_entry.rb
+++ b/core/lib/workarea/ext/mongoid/audit_log_entry.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,16 @@ module Mongoid
   module AuditLog
     decorate Entry, with: :workarea do
       decorated do
+        # WA-NEW-010: Re-declare :action as String instead of Symbol.
+        # mongoid-audit_log defines `field :action, type: Symbol`, which
+        # triggers "The BSON symbol type is deprecated; use String instead"
+        # from Mongoid's field validator on every test boot.  Storing the
+        # action as a plain String avoids the BSON Symbol wire type entirely.
+        # The #action reader (below) returns a Symbol so all callers that
+        # compare against symbol literals (e.g. `action == :create`) continue
+        # to work without change.
+        field :action, type: String, overwrite: true
+
         field :release_id, type: String
         before_save :set_release_id
 
@@ -16,6 +26,13 @@ module AuditLog
         )
       end
 
+      # WA-NEW-010: Return the action as a Symbol so callers like
+      # `action == :create` and the gem's own `create?`/`update?`/`destroy?`
+      # predicates continue to work after the field type changed to String.
+      def action
+        super&.to_sym
+      end
+
       def model_name
         model_attributes['name'][I18n.locale.to_s].presence ||
           model_attributes['name']
diff --git a/notes/WA-NEW-010.md b/notes/WA-NEW-010.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9cdabde15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/notes/WA-NEW-010.md
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+# WA-NEW-010: Eliminate BSON Symbol deprecation warning
+
+## Problem
+
+Every test boot printed:
+
+```
+W, [...] WARN -- : The BSON symbol type is deprecated; use String instead
+```
+
+Stack trace pointed to:
+
+```
+mongoid-audit_log-0.6.1/lib/mongoid/audit_log/entry.rb:7
+  field :action, :type => Symbol
+```
+
+`Mongoid::Fields::Validators::Macro#validate_options` (mongoid 7.4.x) fires a
+one-time warning whenever a Mongoid field is declared with `type: Symbol`.
+Since we can't patch the vendored gem directly, we need a two-part fix in our
+own code.
+
+## Root Cause
+
+`mongoid-audit_log` defines its `Entry#action` field as `type: Symbol`. BSON
+5.x deprecates the BSON Symbol wire type (0x0E) in favour of plain UTF-8
+strings. Mongoid raises the warning when it registers any `Symbol`-typed field.
+
+## Fix
+
+### Part 1 — Silence the one-time warning flag (`freedom_patches/mongoid_audit_log.rb`)
+
+`Mongoid::Fields::Validators::Macro` guards the warning with an instance
+variable `@field_type_is_symbol_warned`. We pre-set it to `true` **before**
+`require 'mongoid/audit_log'` so the gem's own field definition never emits the
+warning. The inline comment explains why this suppression is safe (we
+immediately override the field in our decorator).
+
+### Part 2 — Re-declare the field as `String` (`ext/mongoid/audit_log_entry.rb`)
+
+In our existing `decorate Entry` block we add:
+
+```ruby
+field :action, type: String, overwrite: true
+```
+
+This changes the stored BSON type from deprecated Symbol (0x0E) to String
+(0x02) for all new audit-log entries.
+
+We also add:
+
+```ruby
+def action
+  super&.to_sym
+end
+```
+
+This preserves the public contract: callers (including the gem's own
+`create?`/`update?`/`destroy?` predicates) that compare `action == :create`
+continue to work without changes.
+
+## Compatibility Notes
+
+- **Reads from existing data**: BSON Symbol values stored in MongoDB are
+  decoded by the BSON driver as Ruby `Symbol`; Mongoid's String demongoizer
+  calls `.to_s` on them, returning `"create"`. Our `#action` reader then calls
+  `.to_sym`, yielding `:create`. Reads from old documents are unaffected.
+- **Scopes** (`where(:action => :create)`): Mongoid casts the query value
+  through the field's type (`String`), so `:create` becomes `"create"` in the
+  query. New documents store `"create"`, so scopes match correctly.
+- **Data migration**: Not required for application correctness (old BSON
+  Symbol documents still read/display correctly). A background migration to
+  convert stored symbols to strings can be done separately if desired.
+- **Downstream client implementations**: No changes required. The `action`
+  attribute still returns a `Symbol` value.
+
+## Verification
+
+```
+bundle exec ruby -Icore/test core/test/lib/workarea/configuration/administrable/fieldset_test.rb
+```
+
+Before: warning emitted.  
+After: warning gone, all 4 tests pass.
+
+Also confirmed:
+- `core/test/lib/workarea/ext/mongoid/audit_log_entry_test.rb` — 3 tests, 0 failures
+- `core/test/middleware/workarea/audit_log_middleware_test.rb` — 1 test, 0 failures