Head of Secondary fortnightly blog

AI and Your Child: Power, Promise, and the Boundaries That Matter 

At our recent Parent Academy sessions, our Pastoral and Academic Deputy Heads, Ms Humphrey and Dr Geddes delivered two (KH, BG) complementary presentations exploring how Artificial Intelligence is reshaping our children’s world — both the extraordinary opportunities it offers and the very real risks parents need to understand. 

The pace of change is staggering. ChatGPT reached 100 million users in just two months beating the previous record of 7 months for the same statistic when reached by TikTok. 75% of coding today is done with or done by AI, up from 18% in 2024. The same statistic is coming for a vast amount of other job based activities. In order to demonstrate the power of AI a year or so ago Dr Geddes showed us how well it can make artificial photos. In his presentation this week he got it to build 2 significant learning applications…whilst he presented. Used well, AI becomes the most powerful learning tool in history: a patient personal tutor for every child, a leveller for learners with SEND or EAL needs, and an accelerator that frees classroom time for the higher-order thinking, debate and creativity that truly matter. 

But used poorly, AI shortcuts the very process that creates learning. Recent MIT research shows that students who lean on ChatGPT to do their thinking display weaker neural engagement and significantly poorer recall weeks later. The lesson is simple: when AI does the thinking, learning does not happen. Ask your child one question: “Where did the thinking happen?” If AI explained a concept or helped check their work, that can be useful. If AI replaced their thinking, that is where learning evaporates. To demonstrate how it can be used well, Dr Geddes showed an AI-tutor that he had developed that takes pupils through a learning cycle mapping to our own ETC learning model. You can try it here. 

Ms Humphrey addressed the other edge of the sword: deepfakes, manipulated images, and the misuse of AI in friendships and online spaces. BSKL treats AI-enabled harm exactly as we treat any other safeguarding concern. The principle we teach is Pause – Check – Decide. If something looks wrong, do not share it. Report it. 

One point for parents: under the current Terms of Service of many AI providers users need to be at least 13 years old, with parental permission/supervision and for some providers must be at least 18 years old. 

AI is not going away. Our shared task is to help our children think with it, not let it think for them…and also encourage them to think big. Our ability to be effective in the world has gone up 10 fold and our children’s ambitions should be taught to match. 

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