Back to school, back to AI: three things to get right before half term
It comes around pretty quickly doesn’t it. But here we are at the start of another academic year. New timetables, new faces, and somewhere on your to do list, probably underlined twice, "sort out our AI approach."
I spent many years in classrooms and on SLT before I started working in AI Education full time time, so I know the last thing anyone wants in September is another initiative.
But AI in your school isn't really a new initiative anymore. It's already happening, whether there's a policy for it or not. So instead of another long list, here are the three things I'd genuinely focus on before half term.
1. Know what Ofsted might ask, and make sure your team can answer it the same way
If an inspector asks a teacher how they're using AI, and asks a different teacher the same question, you want two answers that sound like they came from the same school. Not identical scripts, just a shared understanding of what's allowed, what's encouraged, and where the lines are.
This is a leadership job as much as a tech one. You don't need every detail memorised. You just need to know, broadly, how your staff are actually using these tools day to day, so if the question comes up, everyone in the building can answer it in a way that's coherent and consistent. That's the bit that actually reassures an inspector, not the policy document sitting in a folder nobody's opened since September.
2. Give your staff the training they're already asking for
Here's a stat that always gets a reaction when I share it. Around 60% of teachers are already using AI in some form. But when you ask how confident they feel doing it, 43% rate themselves 3 out of 10 or lower, and over 60% have asked for more training.
So the appetite is there. What's missing is the support. Before you plan any big rollout, it's worth just asking your staff directly what they'd find useful. You'll usually get a much shorter, much more specific list than you expect, and it makes the training you do run land properly instead of feeling like one more CPD session ticked off a list.
3. Get safeguarding and platform literacy sorted, not just usage
This is the one I care about most, given my background working in Alternative Provision. Not all AI tools are the same, and the gap matters more than most staff realise. A closed platform your school has actually licensed, like Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini through Workspace for Education, handles data very differently to someone quietly using the free version of ChatGPT on their own account.
Different tools, different GDPR obligations, different levels of risk. If leaders don't know which one people are actually using, they can't manage that risk, and they can't answer for it if they're asked. This is the conversation I'd have before any other AI conversation this term.
None of this needs to be complicated, and it definitely doesn't need to eat into a weekend.
If you want a hand thinking through any of it, I run free drop in sessions for schools, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, whatever's useful. Just grab a slot that works for you and we'll talk it through.
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