Hulme Grammar School has announced plans to spearhead a national shift to AI-centric learning.
The independent co-educational day school in Oldham, founded more than four hundred years ago, is to fully integrate AI through everything it does.
From September 2026, every pupil will be taught AI as a subject in its own right. In addition, all subjects will explicitly consider how AI can be effectively incorporated within the established traditional curriculum to further enhance the outcomes and prospects of all students.
The announcement marks the next phase for the Brenda Mills Institute of Innovation and Technology (BMIIT), Hulme’s dedicated STEAM hub launched last year. The BMIIT has already become a beacon for regional collaboration, recently hosting a 100-student cross-borough hackathon supported by mentors from University of Manchester, Imperial, AMEX GBT, Koder.ly and Purple AI.
AI will change the world more profoundly than any technology in living memory. Hulme Grammar says schools that shy away from that reality will be doing their pupils an injustice.
Rather than treat the technology as a threat to be policed, Hulme will teach pupils to use it, question it, and build with it from Year 7 upwards.
Lessons dedicated to AI will cover how the technology actually works, its limits and risks, how to prompt and evaluate outputs, and how to combine machine capability with human judgement. Instead of shying away from using AI to support homework, the AI curriculum will support students in how best to use modern tools in order to increase creativity and critical thinking, rather than hinder it by rudimentary AI prompts.
“Our pupils will graduate into a world still being defined. Our responsibility is to prepare them for it with clarity and purpose,” said Kirsten Pankhurst, principal of Hulme Grammar School.
“That means teaching AI explicitly, embedding it across the curriculum, and placing even greater emphasis on the human capabilities – judgement, creativity, and collaboration – that will endure.
“At Hulme, preparing young people for what comes next has always guided our approach. In 2026, this is what that looks like in practice.”
Hulme has secured industry partners who will work directly with the school to shape course content, deliver masterclasses and mentor pupils.
Purple AI, the enterprise company founded by chair of governors Gavin Wheeldon, will be the founding partner. Further partners from industry will be announced in the coming months.
“I have spent my career building businesses in AI, and I can tell you that the world is about to change faster than most people realise,” said Wheeldon.
“Schools have a simple choice: lead or hide. Hulme is choosing to lead. By combining more than four hundred years of academic tradition with direct, active partnership from industry, we can give young people in Oldham a genuinely world-class preparation for the world they are walking into.
“By 2030, an estimated 85% of jobs that will exist haven’t been invented yet. Our partners will make sure what we teach stays relevant and keeps pace with the pace of change.”