Guide · School leaders
AI in UK schools: leadership, literacy and policy
A pragmatic guide for SLT, governors and AI leads. What to put in policy, how to build staff AI literacy, and how to keep safeguarding non-negotiable.
Three things to get right first
- Policy — a short, living document that sets expectations
- Literacy — staff (and later pupils) using AI well, not avoiding it
- Safeguarding — no pupil PII in any external tool, ever
What a workable UK school AI policy covers
- Permitted and prohibited uses for staff
- Data handling — no names, SEND data or safeguarding information in prompts
- Disclosure expectations (when AI was used in pupil-facing outputs)
- Pupil-facing academic integrity rules
- CPD expectations and a review cycle (termly, not annually)
Building AI literacy that sticks
One-off INSET fails. AI literacy grows when staff use a tool weekly on real teaching tasks, with clear pedagogical framing — not when they're sent to a generic course.
Safeguarding non-negotiables
- Anonymised identifiers only (Pupil A, Pupil B)
- Providers with a clear UK data position and retention policy
- Designated Safeguarding Lead aware of which tools are permitted
Policy ready
Templates aligned to UK guidance.
Whole-school
SLT oversight, departmental goals.
Safeguarding-first
No PII. Anonymised by design.
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