Tom Barton-Wilkes — Teacher & Builder of ChalkboardAI

My Journey

Why I Started Exploring AI

I’ve been a primary school teacher for over 10 years, and I love working with children. But like every teacher, I’ve always felt there must be a better way to handle the endless admin. Too many late nights are spent on box-ticking tasks that bring little real value.

When large language models (LLMs) burst onto the scene, I started experimenting: sentence dictation, simplifying reading texts, drafting weekly class messages, and even planning support. Helpful? Yes. But I soon realised that these aren’t the real sources of teacher workload. The real drain is the mountain of form-filling and record-keeping that soaks up hours without dedicated time.

The Problem With Pupil Data

Using AI for this usually means sharing huge amounts of pupil data — something that just isn’t safe or compliant.

Building a Safer Solution

After some thought (and with the help of an LLM), I started vibe-coding an in-browser anonymisation model to work with a simple AI grouping tool. When I shared it with the Data Protection Officer of a large primary trust, they confirmed it was GDPR-compliant. That was the spark.

Since then, I’ve been backfilling my coding knowledge so I can take full ownership of the tools I build.

What You’ll Find Here

This website is a record of my journey so far. The tools here are real, classroom-tested, and built with privacy first.

Have a look around, try out the tools, and if something catches your eye, drop me a message through the contact form — I’d love to hear from you.