The AskColin Blog
No hype, no jargon. Honest, useful articles on using AI safely and effectively in your UK primary school.
Honest guides to the AI tools worth using in a UK primary school — tested against real school needs
Free, curriculum-aligned and built specifically for English primary teachers. Here's an honest look at what it does and whether it's worth your time.
Read article →Over 150 generators for teachers, leaders and admin teams. GDPR compliant, DfE Safety Standards certified, and designed for education — not adapted from a generic tool.
Read article →Canva for Education is free for UK schools — and its AI writing features are more useful for primary staff than most people realise.
Read article →Lesson plans, worksheets, feedback comments, parent communications — here's what's genuinely useful for UK primary staff and what to skip.
Read article →Free, fast, and consistently useful. Curipod generates interactive lessons with slides, polls and activities from a single topic prompt.
Read article →Built by a former headteacher. 193 tools covering Ofsted prep, governor reports and school improvement — informed by DfE guidance and EEF research.
Read article →If your school uses Microsoft 365, Copilot may already be available. Here's what it can do for primary staff — and what to put in place before you roll it out.
Read article →If your school uses Google Workspace, Gemini is Google's built-in AI assistant. Here's what it can do, what to watch out for, and how to get started safely.
Read article →A clear, honest guide to the tools worth using — for teachers, admin teams and school leaders. Including an honest answer on whether children should be using AI tools directly.
Read article →Practical things your team can actually try — from the newsletter to the governor briefing
Your office team is brilliant — but it's probably spending hours on tasks AI could handle in minutes. Here are six specific things to try this term, safely and simply.
Read article →The weekly newsletter doesn't have to take an hour. Here's a step-by-step approach to using AI to write it faster — without it sounding like a robot wrote it.
Read article →Policy writing is one of the most time-consuming jobs in school leadership. Here's how AI helps headteachers and SBMs produce better documents faster — without cutting corners.
Read article →Risk assessments, permission letters, itineraries — school trip admin is a real time sink. Here's how AI helps schools handle it faster without missing anything important.
Read article →Forget the hype. Here's what AI support really looks like day to day — the actual tasks, the actual time saved, and what it feels like from the inside.
Read article →The SENCO role carries one of the heaviest admin loads in any primary school. AI can help with the paperwork — but SEND is also where the data rules matter most.
Read article →Not all AI tools are created equal — and not all are appropriate for schools. Here are the five questions worth asking before you say yes to anything new.
Read article →The reality is much quieter than the headlines suggest. Here's what AI actually looks like on a normal school day — and why it's making teaching more human, not less.
Read article →AI can make some kinds of personalisation more practical for teachers. But the most powerful form — knowing and responding to a child as a person — is still entirely human.
Read article →The honest numbers — where time goes, what's possible, and what it means for your school
The patterns across school office teams are consistent — and the opportunity to save meaningful hours every week is real. Here's where it all goes.
Read article →Monday morning in a primary school office is one of the most time-pressured environments anywhere. Here's what the hidden cost actually looks like.
Read article →End-of-year reports are one of the most time-intensive tasks in the school calendar. Here's the honest look at how long it takes — and how AI helps teachers reclaim that time.
Read article →Two hours per teacher per week adds up to something remarkable across a school year. Here's what that time could actually mean for staff and for children.
Read article →Teacher recruitment and retention is one of the biggest challenges in UK primary. Workload is the biggest driver. Here's the honest view — and one practical lever that makes a difference.
Read article →Plain-language answers to the questions parents are actually asking about AI in schools
AI is already in most UK primary schools. Here's what it's actually being used for, how your child's data is protected, and the questions worth asking your headteacher.
Read article →The short answer is no. The longer answer explains why — and why AI, used well, has the potential to make teaching more human, not less.
Read article →AI doing your child's homework for them is a problem. AI helping them understand something they're stuck on is different. Here's how to tell the difference.
Read article →The reality is much quieter than the headlines suggest. Here's what AI actually looks like on a normal school day — and the safeguards responsible schools have in place.
Read article →Some of that promise is real. Some of it is overstated. Here's an honest look at what AI can and can't do in a UK primary school classroom.
Read article →Not all schools using AI are using it safely. Here are the five clear signs of a school that's got it right — and exactly what to ask your headteacher.
Read article →