Every September the same pattern repeats. Teachers spend the first fortnight firefighting, new classes, new data systems, new displays, whilst the tools that could carry some of that load sit untouched until half term. By then the habit window has closed.
The teachers saving serious time with AI this year didn't find better tools than you. They set them up in August. Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation found six in ten teachers now use AI for work, and those using it weekly save 5.9 hours a week. Roughly six weeks a year. That advantage is built before the first bell, not in January.
How I chose the tools
Everything below comes from testing in real schools and from the 120+ tools independently listed on aieducator.tools. I don't take payment for inclusion, and where a tool only works in certain contexts, I say so.
Set up planning first
Planning is where AI pays back fastest. Spend one afternoon this August loading your schemes into a planning tool, and September's lessons start half-built. The lesson planning and resource creation category now lists 46 tools; TeachAid builds ready-to-teach units aligned to your curriculum, and Brainator turns topics into printable worksheets in seconds. Remember my rule: outsource the doing, not the thinking. The tool drafts; you decide what your classes need.
Get marking ready before books arrive
Set up your mark schemes now, not when the first assessment lands. GradingPal handles structured tasks well. But be honest about the limits. AI marking works best for structured responses, not nuanced extended writing. Keep your judgement in the loop.
Choose one student-facing tool, and set it up properly
If students will touch AI this year, decide the guardrails before day one. SchoolAI lets you create personalised tutors and learning spaces with real-time teacher monitoring. The kind of oversight I'd insist on in any school I advise.
Prepare your communication voice
Parent emails, newsletters, staff bulletins: the invisible workload. StaffDraft is a purpose-built ghostwriter for educators that learns your voice. That matters, because parents can tell when a message wasn't written by a human who knows their child.
How to Choose
Don't adopt five tools. Pick one per problem, planning, marking, communication, and apply the test I give every school I work with: does it hand you a finished draft you can shape, or does it try to replace your professional judgement? Keep the first, bin the second. Browse the full directory and filter by year group, pricing and safety compliance before you commit.
What I would do
An hour of setup in August is worth ten in October. Choose your small stack this week, before the inset-day noise begins. Your September self will thank you.
Dan Fitzpatrick is a Forbes contributor, three-time bestselling author and founder of The AI Educator. He has trained more than 150,000 educators and advises schools, multi-academy trusts and government bodies on AI strategy. Last updated: 18 August 2026.