24 November 2026
Opening keynote, Independent Schools Innovation Hub, De Vere Cotswold Water Park, Gloucestershire
AI in Education: Building Confidence, Policy, and Curriculum. Forthcoming.
Dr Will Van Reyk
BA, MSt, DPhil in History (Oxon)
Cofounder and Chief Academic Officer, Pedagogue
Director of Innovation, St Paul's Girls' School
Historian by training, sixteen years in UK independent schools, now building AI capability in schools. Since 2024 I have trained hundreds of teachers and leaders in AI for the Historical Association, the Prince's Teaching Institute, GDST, Eton, St Paul's Girls' School and North London Collegiate School. A course I built for staff at SPGS has now, in partnership with the school, become Pedagogue's flagship Leading with AI course: six modules and two pathways used by schools across the country.
Record at a glance
- AI training sessions and talks delivered since January 2024
- 0
- posts and articles published on LinkedIn since September 2023
- 0+
- press features and book contributions
- 0
- whole-school AI policies written from inside the schools
- 0
Speaking and training
30 June 2026
Speaker on panel, Worshipful Company of Educators, Guildhall
Five Things Every School Leader Should Know: building an AI enabled school.
18 June 2026
Keynote address, Mercers' Schools Conference, University of Reading
Navigating the AI Age: from classroom to career
2025 to 2026
Leading with AI, six-part online training series for the SPGS Teaching and Learning Hub
Academic year 2025 to 2026. For aspiring and current school leaders across the country.
Six sessions
12 November 2025
Panel member, ISPN conference
Beyond the Hype: Practical Implementation in Independent Schools
22 September 2025
Speaker at conference, St Benedict's School
AI in Education: Making it Safe, Smart, and Strategic
17 September 2025
Introductory webinar, Historical Association series
Teaching History in the Age of AI
16 June 2025
Presented on AI and assessment alongside Clare Jarmy, School Directed Courses meeting, Pearson HQ
AI and Assessment
5 June 2025
Talk for King's College London History Department
AI and History in Secondary Schools: the Context, the Current Picture, and Future Possibilities
22 May 2025
Online training for the Prince's Teaching Institute
How can History Teachers Engage with AI?
3 March 2025
Teaching and learning webinar for CIRL, Eton College
AI Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Secondary School Teachers
29 November 2024
Politics training day, GDST Head Office
How can teachers of Politics use AI to support teaching and learning? Issues for Politics teachers and students with AI, especially bias and misinformation.
13 November 2024
Online training for NLCS international schools alongside Robin Street
AI Policy and Practice
27 September 2024
Speaker at conference, St Benedict's School
From Hype to Reality: Moving on to the next Stage of AI in education
9 July 2024
Online training for teachers nationwide alongside Robin Street, NLCS
AI ready for September
21 May 2024
Online course for the Prince's Teaching Institute
A Beginner's Guide to using AI
22 April 2024
INSET, North London Collegiate School
A beginners' guide to AI for support staff
19 February 2024
INSET, North London Collegiate School
AI: A World of Opportunities for Teachers
9 January 2024
INSET, Eton College
Opportunities and Challenges for Humanities and Social Sciences. Beginners' Chatbots.
Writing
Writing on LinkedIn
Since September 2023 I have written publicly about AI in education almost daily: over 600 posts and more than 40 long-form articles, including the 'History, Politics, AI and Me' series.
Ranked 14th top creator in the UK for AI in education by Favikon, 2026.
Figures as at July 2026.
December 2024
AI and democracy
Politics Review Magazine, Hodder Education.
August 2024
Democratizing Knowledge
E-book on teaching with AI, free to download. August 2024.
June 2024
Media
October 2025
Microsoft launches new Teach AI tool in Copilot app to mixed educator reactions
EdTech Innovation Hub.
Read the EdTech Innovation Hub report on Teach AI in Copilot
September 2025
St Paul's Girls' School runs first ever digital induction programme for students at start of term
EdTech Innovation Hub.
Read the EdTech Innovation Hub report on the digital induction programme
August 2025
History teaching meets AI in new Historical Association webinar series
EdTech Innovation Hub.
April 2025
Interviewed and quoted in The Awkward Questions in Education, by Al Kingsley MBE
The Elephants in the Room from AI to Teacher Retention.
February 2025
Coverage of the student AI Licence developed with Robin Street
Independent Schools Magazine.
Read the coverage of the student AI Licence in Independent Schools Magazine
March 2024
Policy and whole-school work
All of this was done from inside the schools concerned, as a serving member of staff rather than an external consultant.
Author, Generative AI Use Policy, St Paul's Girls' School
Contributor, Responsible AI Policy, North London Collegiate School
Designed and implemented a compulsory digital passport programme across every year group, St Paul's Girls' School
Units on digital foundations, information literacy and misinformation, AI literacy, and responsible use of technology.
Co-designed the AI Driving Licence with Robin Street, a compulsory AI literacy programme for students across the school, North London Collegiate School
Designed and led school-wide staff AI adoption and upskilling, St Paul's Girls' School
Designed and led school-wide staff AI adoption and upskilling, North London Collegiate School
Including a staff accreditation.
Roles and affiliations
2025 to present
Member, AIEOU (AI in Education), Department of Education, University of Oxford
Interdisciplinary research hub on AI in education, led by Dr Sara Ratner.
2025 to present
Cofounder and Cochair, Learning and Teaching Innovation Panel, AI Edify
A national panel of UK educators working on AI in education, an ICAI non-profit initiative.
September to December 2026
Subject expert, research panel on AI in education, Worshipful Company of Educators
Producing a briefing paper for the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.
Career
- Cofounder and Chief Academic Officer, Pedagogue. September 2026 to present.
- St Paul's Girls' School, April 2025 to January 2027: Director of Innovation (September 2026 to January 2027), part time alongside Pedagogue; Deputy Head and Director of Innovation (April 2025 to August 2026).
- North London Collegiate School, 2011 to 2025: Deputy Director of Innovation (2024 to 2025), Head of History and Politics (2019 to 2024), Deputy Director of University Admissions (2014 to 2019), Assistant Head of Sixth Form (2012 to 2019), Teacher of History and Politics (2011 to 2019).
- Teacher of History, Sir William Perkins's School. 2010 to 2011.
- Researcher for School History, St Edward's School, Oxford. 2010.
- Lecturer in History, Keble College, Oxford. 2008 to 2009.
- Lecturer in History, Wadham College, Oxford. 2007 to 2008.
- Lecturer in History, Christ Church, Oxford. 2007 to 2008.
- Associate Lecturer, University of Winchester. 2006 to 2007.
- Lecturer in History, St Hugh's College, Oxford. 2006.
Education
- DPhil, History. University of Oxford (Wadham College). 2003 to 2007.
- MSt, History. University of Oxford (Wadham College). 2002 to 2003.
- BA, Modern History. University of Oxford (St Hugh's College). 1999 to 2002.
Speaker bio and press kit
For event programmes and press. Please use whichever length fits.
Short, 100 words
Dr Will Van Reyk is Cofounder and Chief Academic Officer of Pedagogue, and Director of Innovation at St Paul's Girls' School. A historian by training with sixteen years in UK independent schools, he developed the Leading with AI course at St Paul's as an internal staff training programme and then built it into a national one, stepping back from full-time school leadership to cofound Pedagogue. He believes every member of school staff, not only the enthusiasts, needs the confidence to use AI well, and that schools rather than technology companies should set the standard for what good practice looks like.
Long, 300 words
Dr Will Van Reyk is Cofounder and Chief Academic Officer of Pedagogue, and Director of Innovation at St Paul's Girls' School, where he remains until January 2027. He read History at Oxford, where he took his DPhil and lectured at four colleges, and has spent sixteen years in UK independent schools, most recently as a deputy head. At North London Collegiate School he co-designed a compulsory student AI literacy programme and introduced a staff AI accreditation. At St Paul's he designed a digital passport programme for every year group, drafted the school's AI policy, and led staff adoption across the school.
He developed Leading with AI at St Paul's as a staff training programme, then worked with Angus Griffin and Aatish Thakerar to build it into Pedagogue's flagship course, six modules and two pathways, cofounding the company to take it to any school. He stepped into Pedagogue to do at scale what he had been doing one school at a time. Two things convinced him it was worth leaving full-time school leadership to try: that four years on from the launch of ChatGPT, staff in most schools across the country are still waiting for the support to engage with AI confidently; and that unless schools collectively shape what good practice looks like, big technology companies will do it for them, in their own image. His aim at Pedagogue is a genuine AI standard for schools, built from the classroom outwards.
He is one of the most prolific contributors to public discussion of AI in education in the UK, and is ranked 14th top creator in the country in the field by Favikon. He has trained hundreds of teachers and leaders in AI for the Historical Association, the Prince's Teaching Institute, GDST, Eton, SPGS and North London Collegiate School.
