Administration

AI Copilot Playbook for Timetabling and Cover

August 20, 2025

Timetabling and daily cover are high-stakes operational puzzles, but AI is not a magic solver—and it should not replace your MIS or timetabling engine. This playbook shows how operations teams can use AI as a “copilot” to structure constraints, generate workable options, and stress-test plans before anything is published. You’ll see practical ways to model staff availability, PPA, room features, SEND needs, and policy rules, while keeping decisions auditable with human sign-off. Includes a 30-day pilot plan with success measures and risk controls.

Refreshing Your AI Acceptable Use Policy

August 18, 2025

An AI Acceptable Use Policy written once and filed away won’t keep pace with tools, assessments, and expectations in 2025–26. This guide reframes your AUP as a living “AI Use & Integrity Agreement” with an annual July/August refresh you can actually run. You’ll find a 12-point checklist, practical assessment boundaries, and data protection defaults that reduce risk by design. It also covers stakeholder sign-off, clear pupil and parent/carer communications, and a simple monitoring loop that supports learning without turning school into a surveillance project.

National Curriculum and AI: 2025–26 changes

August 13, 2025

2025–26 brings sharper, more practical expectations for how schools manage AI: clearer boundaries for assessment integrity, more explicit teaching of AI literacy, and stronger evidence that data protection and procurement are under control. This implementation pack turns DfE, Ofqual and JCQ guidance into “what changes on Monday morning”: policy updates, role-based actions, and a printable checklist you can evidence to governors. It is designed for SLT, safeguarding, exams, IT/DPO and subject leaders who need consistency, not more documents.

Back to School AI Toolkit 2025

August 11, 2025

A back-to-school AI plan succeeds when it is small, predictable and safe enough to run during busy weeks. This article sets out a ‘minimum viable’ toolkit for 2025: one assistant, one writing space, one image tool and one accessibility layer, with default privacy settings that reduce risk without blocking useful practice. You’ll also find procurement questions, role-based workflows, and a 30-day rollout checklist designed to prevent tool sprawl and protect staff workload.

Results Day Readiness Pack for Heads of Year

July 7, 2025

Results Day can feel like a flood of emotion, questions, and urgent decisions. This people-first readiness pack helps Heads of Year and Sixth Form teams set up a calm triage system for the first 90 minutes, with four clear queues: anxiety, practical next steps, complaints and appeals, and safeguarding. You’ll find copy-and-paste scripts for students and parents/carers, plus comms templates for common scenarios. It also includes a safe, minimal-data approach to using AI for scenario rehearsal and message drafting—without automating decisions or sharing pupil data.