Giving Teachers More Time to Teach
- Teacher workload & wellbeing
- Faster, more specific feedback for students
The Goal
Prince Henry’s Grammar School wanted to give its English teachers back the hours they were losing to marking outside school. With workload-related stress and absence a real concern, Chris Smith, Associate Assistant Headteacher and Faculty Leader for English, needed a solution that would protect his team without compromising the quality of feedback students received. Having seen Olex trialled at Primary level through the Trust’s IT lead Garry Cousins, he brought it into Secondary to find out whether AI could deliver the standard his faculty needed – at a pace that was simply impossible by hand.
The Impact with Olex
- A multi-hour GCSE paper marking load completed in under two minutes
- Highly personalised feedback drawing directly on students’ own words and examples
- Feedback adapted to the School’s STAR model with minimal adjustment
- Frequent, timetabled in-lesson use to give students quick and bespoke feedback, maintaining learning momentum and reducing the workload on the teacher
- Easily editable output that keeps teacher voice central
- Teachers freed to focus on planning, preparation and targeted support
- Reduced workload across the English faculty
"My starting point was workload - I could see immediately what this would give back to my staff. But then I looked at the formative feedback itself: the way it takes examples directly from a student's own writing, gives really specific next steps, makes it genuinely personal. That combination - the time saved and the quality of what comes back - is amazing."
Chris Smith, Faculty Leader for English and Associate Assistant Headteacher, Prince Henry's Grammar School, Collaborative Learning Trust
Chris Smith talking accuracy & time savings
How They Did It
- Trialled Olex with a Year 10 class to test speed and accuracy before wider rollout
- Students write by hand; then scan their work and submit to Olex
- Teacher reviews feedback, edits to fit the school’s STAR model, and releases to the students
- Shorter in-lesson tasks marked and returned within the same lesson
- AI use communicated to parents, with Olex’s accreditations shared to address questions
"When we ran that first paper through Olex and it came back in two minutes, I was borderline emotional! I could see immediately what that meant for my team. Then I looked at the feedback itself, and saw how easily it mapped onto our STAR model. That was the moment I knew this could change everything about how we work."
Chris Smith, Head of English and Associate Assistant Headteacher, Prince Henry's Grammar School, Collaborative Learning Trust
What’s Next?
- Expanding Olex into History and Geography
- Building on the workload and feedback benefits established in English, now across the wider school
- Establishing a broader culture of AI-assisted assessment across the School
"Your teacher wouldn't write three paragraphs of feedback for every piece of work - whereas Olex does. Across everything, but especially writing, it's just made me enjoy it a lot more. I used to hate writing, but Olex really helped with it."
Year 10 student, Prince Henry's Grammar School