We hope you had a proper rest, because the term ahead looks like a busy one.First things first: AI Awareness Day is coming back in 2027. 🎉
We are, however, likely to move away from 4 June, as that date falls in half term for a lot of schools and we want as many of you as possible to be able to take part. We’ll confirm the new date in the next month or so, so keep an eye on your inbox.What’s Changed Over The Summer
While schools were closed, the AI models kept moving.
OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra at the start of September, and the reaction online has been hard to miss, users are sharing polished websites, CAD models, games and full apps built from a single prompt.For teachers, that’s a genuine opportunity. If you can now pair your subject knowledge with a tool that builds the resource for you, the bar for creating something really good in your classroom drops a long way. Interactive revision tools, bespoke simulations, differentiated materials produced in an afternoon rather than a term, all of that is now realistic for an ordinary department with no coding background.But the same leap cuts the other way. The more convincing the output, the harder the guessing game becomes. Who actually did this piece of work? Playing detective is exhausting, it’s time-consuming, and it rarely ends well for the relationship between a teacher and a student.Which is why we keep coming back to the same point. The answer isn’t better detection, it’s a school community that talks openly about how it uses AI. Right now, most schools are in roughly the same place. Teachers using AI for content creation and workload management, students using it to get things done. That tug of war isn’t new. What’s new is the speed. Getting your staff, students and parents to be honest about their own usage is a far better use of everyone’s energy than trying to catch each other out.
Policy Watch: Four Things That Changed While You Were Away
1. KCSIE 2026 came into force on 1 September. The statutory safeguarding guidance now names AI directly. The definition of nudes and semi-nudes explicitly covers images that are digitally altered or entirely AI-generated, including deepfakes and “deep nudes” — closing the “but it isn’t a real photo” grey area. Generative AI apps that simulate harmful interaction are now treated as a contact risk, not just content to filter: in plain terms, an AI companion chatbot is viewed like a stranger online. Schools are also pointed to the DfE’s Generative AI: product safety expectations, and mobile phone-free is now the default expectation. If your AI policy, staff training and parent communications haven’t been reviewed since July, this term is the moment.
2. Ofqual is tightening up on coursework. Speaking at the Festival of Education in July, chief regulator Ian Bauckham warned that written coursework in new and reformed qualifications will face far more scrutiny, arguing that schools cannot normalise AI output as a substitute for genuine human endeavour. Ofqual has also confirmed that AI must not be used as the sole marker of any regulated assessment, including non-exam assessment.
3. The curriculum consultation is coming. The government has accepted the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendations on digital literacy — a refreshed computing curriculum with AI content built in, and the narrow computer science GCSE replaced by a broader computing qualification, with changes landing in schools from 2028. The public consultation on the draft programmes of study is expected shortly. If you want AI literacy properly embedded, that consultation is where to say so.
4. The under-16 social media ban. Announced in June, with regulations expected before the end of the year and protections coming into force in Spring 2027. The scope is wider than many expected, reaching beyond social platforms to livestreaming, stranger contact, and some AI and gaming services. Notably, that puts it in roughly the same window as AI Awareness Day 2027, so expect it to be live in parent conversations by the time we run the campaign.The AI Risk & Readiness Benchmark – Audit Your Schools AI UsageTo help with exactly that conversation, we’ve built a free audit tool for the whole school community, students, parents, teachers and school leaders — to explore their own dependency on AI and how they’re actually using it.👉 Audit your AI usage with our AI Risk & Readiness BenchmarkIt works well as a starting point for a staff meeting, a tutor time discussion or a parents’ evening session.Partner and Supporter NewsWe’re delighted that our supporters and partners keep creating new opportunities for AI literacy and backing the education system as it adapts.
Common Sense Education joins AI Awareness Day 🎉
We’re delighted to announce that Common Sense Education has joined the AI Awareness Day platform as a partner for 2027.Who they are: Common Sense Education is the schools arm of Common Sense, the non-profit best known for its independent ratings and reviews of media and technology for families. Their free digital citizenship and media literacy curriculum is used by 1.4 million teachers worldwide, including more than 30,000 here in the UK.What they’re bringing: their new AI Literacy Lessons for Years 7–13+ (UK) quick, grab-and-go lessons designed to get students thinking critically about AI and its impact. They’re free, mapped to a UK audience, and built to drop into a single lesson or tutor time rather than needing a whole scheme of work rewritten around them.
Apps for Good — AI for Good 2.0Apps for Good has launched AI for Good 2.0, a brand-new, free project-based computing course that helps students design and build AI-powered apps for social impact.
Who it’s for: Key Stage 3 / S1–S3, ages 11–14
What it covers:Â AI literacy, ethics, bias, deepfakes and responsible tech creation
Coding pathways:Â standard JavaScript, or AI-assisted (“vibe”) coding via Canva Code
Format:Â a flexible, modular 12-session course
Cost:Â 100% free for schools
Access:Â view and download the full curriculum through the Apps for Good Educator Dashboard
We’ll keep bringing you the latest from our partners and supporters as they push forward with new AI content and activities.
This weekend: the Creative Intelligence FestivalFinally — if you’re in or near London this weekend, come and find us.
Creative Intelligence Festival Southbank Centre, 12–13 September 12 noon – 7.30pm both daysTwo days exploring how AI and creative technology might shape our lives and our futures, with a huge range of free experiences throughout the building. You can:meet some of the team behind AI Awareness Daydiscover student work and research in the Exploration Bazaartry your hand at AI coding with Raspberry Pijoin the public debates on the future of creativity, learning, work and wellbeing, at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm on both Saturday and SundayWe’d love to see you there.
A quick word for our international readers, because there are more of you than you might think. Over the last few months teachers from all over the world have engaged with AI Awareness Day and worked through our AI Risk & Readiness Benchmark. We know a fair amount of what we publish is UK-focused but the underlying questions don’t stop at the border. How dependent are we becoming? Who in our community is using AI, and for what? What do we actually want our students to be able to do without it? Those apply in any school system. So if you’re outside the UK, here’s how to get involved:Run the benchmark with your staff, students or parents. It’s free and the results are yours.Create an AI Awareness Day display board. Several schools have already done this and it’s a simple, low-lift way to start the conversation in your corridors.Use our content and our partners’ content on AI literacyJoin us for 2027 — the campaign is open to any school, anywhere. Want something built around your context? We collaborate with international schools, ministries of education, global school groups, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to deliver tailored educational solutions.
