At St Andrews, we’re committed to preparing students for the future by blending academic excellence with innovation. One of the most transformative developments in education today is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
You may be wondering: What does that mean in a school setting? Is it safe? Is it helpful? The short answer is: AI is a powerful educational tool that supports teachers, adapts to individual learners, and helps create a more inclusive and engaging classroom experience.
Here's how it can help your child learn better:
Learning that adapts to your child
One of the most significant benefits of AI in education is personalised learning. In international classrooms where students come from diverse backgrounds and learn at varying rates, AI helps tailor instruction to each student’s individual needs.
High School
For example, in High School, we’re using Google Gemini as our primary AI platform. The student interface features a Guided Learning mode, designed not only to give students answers but also to help them develop a deeper understanding of the topic. It works by asking questions and breaking down problems into smaller steps, encouraging students to think critically and actively engage with the material they are studying.
In particular subject areas, teachers are also introducing AI-powered online learning platforms designed to create adaptive learning paths for individual students. These tools can analyse student performance in real time and adjust the content accordingly. A student who needs more support with fractions will get targeted tasks and videos to help them catch up, while another student may progress to more complex fraction-related challenges.
Primary School
In Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6), we are introducing students to the fundamentals of AI, including how it generates text, images, and code. A significant part of this learning involves teaching them to create and refine prompts to enhance AI responses. Simultaneously, we are engaging in discussions about the ethical considerations surrounding AI and its potential impact on human roles.
Enhancing revision and test preparation
AI can significantly enhance your child's effectiveness when reviewing material and preparing for assessments. AI-powered tools, such as Guided Learning within Gemini, create customised quizzes and practice problems based on specific topics that students need to review, identifying areas where they might need more practice. They offer instant feedback on answers, helping students understand their mistakes immediately. This targeted approach to revision ensures that study time is used efficiently, focusing on building confidence for exams.
In some subjects, teachers will be providing access to a curated Education-edition NotebookLM platform, another Google product specifically tailored for schools. This platform allows the students to generate study guides, concept explainers, and even video or podcast overviews for areas of the curriculum they want to focus on. And since NotebookLM only accesses content that the teacher has explicitly included, there is no risk of the student encountering any AI-generated “hallucinations” that provide misleading information.
Creating more inclusive classrooms
AI tools can help make the curriculum accessible to all learners. For students whose English is a second or additional language, AI translation tools can provide real-time translation, enabling students to follow lessons and participate fully. AI can perform tasks such as converting text to speech, offering word prediction, and supporting comprehension with visual aids, which help students access written content more easily.
Supporting, not replacing, teachers
AI is certainly not a replacement for teachers. Using AI can save time on repetitive tasks, such as generating differentiated lesson content, discussion prompts, and formative assessments, as well as accessing high-quality teaching materials, allowing teachers to focus more on instruction, relationships, and student growth.
AI gives teachers more time to connect with students and respond to their individual learning needs.
Keeping learning safe, ethical, and supervised
We know that privacy, safety, and responsible use of technology are top priorities for parents. That’s why at St Andrews we are prioritising Google Gemini - Education edition. This platform explicitly guarantees that student privacy is preserved at all times. Interactions aren’t used to improve the models, and no conversations are subject to human review. Strict content policies are in place to prevent potentially inappropriate or harmful responses. Students complete an onboarding experience with AI literacy resources endorsed by ConnectSafely and Family Online Safety Institute. When a student asks a fact-based question, a double-check response feature runs automatically, powered by Google Search.
In addition to using AI tools such as Gemini responsibly, students learn to interact with AI ethically by helping them understand how AI works and when it should be used, emphasising the importance of human decision-making, and fostering digital responsibility, including how to verify information. By building this AI literacy, we prepare students to use these tools thoughtfully both in the classroom and beyond.
Preparing students for an AI-driven future
AI is already shaping the world our students will graduate into - from medicine and business to engineering, design, and the arts. We want our students to be prepared not just to use AI, but to understand it, question it, and create with it. The world our students will graduate into is being profoundly reshaped by AI. As industry leaders like Marc Benioff of Salesforce declare, “Artificial intelligence and generative AI may be the most important technology of any lifetime.” This rapid transformation means that, as Ginni Rometty, former IBM CEO, famously put it, “AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don't.”
That’s why, in many of our classrooms, we incorporate age-appropriate conversations that explain how AI works in simple terms, where it appears in daily life, and essential ethical concerns such as data privacy, bias, and misinformation. We also teach students how to use AI to enhance their creativity rather than replace it. We believe these skills are essential for today’s learners and tomorrow’s leaders.
