Using AI safely

• Turning your rough, anonymised notes into a short list of questions.
• Shortening a draft or making the tone clearer and more neutral.
• Organising dates you supply into a timeline, while marking gaps rather than guessing.
• Explaining an unfamiliar term so you can check it against official guidance.

Compare the result with your original notes. Fluent writing is not proof of accuracy.

AI can invent dates, quotations, legal references and convincing explanations. It cannot decide what happened, diagnose your child, establish someone’s motives or reliably determine whether a school acted unlawfully.

Do not rely on it alone for appeal deadlines, safeguarding decisions or legal strategy. Use current primary guidance and an appropriate adviser. An AI summary is not an original record: keep the emails, plans and notes behind it.

Start with the minimum information needed. Use labels such as “my child”, “teacher” and “school”. Remove names, birth dates, addresses, contact details, signatures, identifiers and other children’s information.

Changing a name alone may not prevent identification: a distinctive event, school name, date or combination of details can identify someone. Prefer a short general description over uploading a whole EHCP, assessment, email chain or safeguarding record.

Before using a tool, check its privacy notice, retention, training and sharing settings. Private mode or a training opt-out is not a guarantee of confidentiality. Do not paste passwords or confidential third-party information into a prompt.

Use invented labels and remove identifying details before adding your own notes.

Help me turn these anonymised notes into an email of about 150 words to my child’s school.
Use only the facts I supply. Do not add dates, diagnoses, motives, legal claims or quotations. Mark anything missing as [check].
Separate what I know directly from what my child told me and what school said.
Use plain English and include one clear request and a proposed review date. Do not invent a legal deadline.
Ask me about any uncertainty rather than filling it in.
Notes: [add a minimal, anonymised summary]

1. Check every fact, date and quotation against the original source.
2. Remove legal references you have not verified and claims you cannot support.
3. Make the main concern and requested action clear in the first few lines.
4. Use wording you understand and can explain yourself. Correct or remove anything that does not reflect your views.
5. Read it once more for tone, unnecessary personal information and repetition, then send through the proper school channel.

One clear, relevant message is usually easier to answer than several long drafts covering the same point.

This guide has not established that schools generally ignore AI-assisted emails. A concern about an email’s style does not itself tell us whether the underlying issue has been addressed.

Check the school’s published complaints procedure and ask which factual point needs clarification. You can confirm that you have checked the message and that the concerns and requests are yours. If appropriate, resend a shorter version in your own words, referring to the original date.

I used a writing tool to help organise this message. I have checked it and these are my concerns. The point I need answered is [point]. Please confirm how this will be considered under the relevant procedure, and tell me if you need any factual clarification.

Only use that wording if it is true. If school declines to consider the issue, ask for the reason, the policy provision relied on and the next stage available. Keep the reply and seek advice if the process appears blocked. Do not assume AI assistance removes a deadline or makes a complaint automatically valid or invalid.

DfE’s academy complaints guidance describes fair handling and access to the complaints stages. It does not create a specific blanket exemption for correspondence drafted with AI. Some subjects have separate procedures.

The practical suggestions above are for parents. DfE’s AI guidance is aimed at education settings; it explains risks such as inaccurate output and handling personal information.

Sources checked 14 October 2026. For a particular refusal or complaint, seek advice based on the actual wording and circumstances.