Dec 25' Update from Good Future Foundation
Using AI to Think, Create, and Reflect - Year 6 Learners Level Up with Prompt Engineering at GEMS Winchester School, Dubai (WSD)
Learning Outcomes
To use the WSD P.R.O.M.P.T. Framework to create with purpose
Strengthen clarity, critical thinking, creativity, and literacy by using structured queries.
Compare AI-generated and real images to build media awareness
Reflect on how your thinking shapes technology.
At Gems Winchester School , we are innovating how literacy looks like in an AI age. Our Year 6 learners have been using the P.R.O.M.P.T. framework which is a six-part structure that transforms how students interact with technology and exercise their cognitive muscles. With correct prompting students turn every query into an opportunity to develop essential skills: critical thinking, confidence, collaboration, creativity, communication, curiosity, and consciousness. The framework - Precise, Role-Based, Outcome-Oriented, Medium-Specific, Provide Context, Test & Refine guides students through every stage of working with AI, helping them move from “typing something in” to “thinking something through.” Students hence use AI to deepen creativity and practice metacognition.
From Text to Thinking: How it looked in the classroom : Students explored AI across several group challenges
Story-Prompting: Writing prompts that asked AI to generate a short story, then evaluating the output and adjusting their prompts.
Character & Visualisation: Using Canva for education to generate images of characters based on descriptive prompts, then comparing how the AI interpreted their language.
Image Comparison Project: Students used the P.R.O.M.P.T framework to generate AI-created images and then compared them with real photographs, sparking discussion about how language shapes AI’s “vision” and how our human descriptions differ from what machines produce.
Each activity reinforced the same core idea: better thinking leads to better prompting and better prompting leads to better learning and AI generated outcomes. Throughout, students were encouraged to think metacognitively: “What did my prompt do? What might I change next time? Why did the AI respond like that?” That kind of self-reflection is exactly the kind of mindful AI integration work we aim to embed across the school.
👩🏽💻 Real Student Scenarios: Before & After Prompts
After co-creating the prompts , students quickly noticed how small changes in precision and context transformed the instruction given to AI. Students used Canva education to generate images and discussed the change of AI’s results from generic to genuinely creative.
💭 Metacognition Moments
Reflecting after each task, students shared insights about their own thought process, what we call Metacognition Moments:
“I realised my first prompt was not clear enough , I needed to think like a writer, not just a student.”
“When I use Prompt framework, the AI understood my task better. It is like training my brain to explain work to my brother in FS2 , I have to do it step by step and clearly.”
“Comparing AI and real images made me see how words can change how something looks.”
These reflections align beautifully with WSD’s literacy guidance, embedding the thinking behind language into every AI interaction.
Why P.R.O.M.P.T matters?
Emerging research tells us that prompt engineering is not just a nice to have rather it’s a key competency for the AI age. One systematic review found that “well-designed prompts have the potential to transform interactions with generative AI and need to be aligned with predetermined educational goals.” (Zawacki-Richter & Anderson, 2025). Another study of “prompt literacy” with language learners found learners improved not only their ability to craft prompts, but also their vocabulary, communication strategies and metacognitive awareness (Liu et al., 2024).
In our whole-school literacy programme, we emphasise the cycle of draft → refine → publish. Using prompts in the classroom mirrors that cycle: students draft, test, refine (feedback from AI or peers), and publish or evaluate. So prompt engineering becomes an extension of literacy, not a separate add-on.
Looking Ahead
Next term, Year 6 will extend their prompting skills across subjects ,from generating scientific explanations to visualising historical events applying literacy strategies in every prompt they craft. At GEMS Winchester School, purposeful and personalised learning drives our approach to AI. We are guiding students to learn with intention, integrating AI carefully and creatively into the heart of meaningful education. Teachers ensure AI enhances education with purpose, precision, and reflection.
References
Hayes, L., Nguyen, P., & Allen, T. (2024, May). Developing Critical Thinking through AI-Enhanced Prompt Writing. Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C). Retrieved from https://altc.alt.ac.uk
Zawacki-Richter, O., & Anderson, T. (2025). Prompt Engineering in Higher Education: A Systematic Review. Educational Technology Review, SpringerOpen. https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-025-00503-7
Liu, X., Chen, Y., & Park, E. (2024). Prompt Literacy: How Language Learners Build AI-Mediated Communication Skills. arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.05373.
Engaging Every School Member for Basic AI Literacy at Northlands
This month, we’re featuring Northlands School in Argentina, which recently received the Gold AI Quality Mark. Jennifer and Florencia, who are leading AI conversations at their school, share their approach and the resources they’ve developed. If your school is just beginning to navigate this space, you’ll find some inspiration in their work. Learn more from their insights below:
While the AI Quality Mark was developed by senior school leaders and educators in the UK, the values and principles of responsible AI adoption embedded in our nine-aspect framework transcend borders. We’ve seen schools from different continents using it to engage stakeholders and guide strategic planning. We welcome educators from the UK and internationally to reach out and discuss how the AI Quality Mark could support their schools.
Opportunities to Connect and Learn from Fellow Educators
Craving out time to hear diverse perspectives from both thought leaders and classroom teachers, and to exchange ideas with peers, is never easy. However, two fantastic opportunities are coming up that will allow you to make this happen all in one day!
Bett UK 2026, 21-23 Jan 2026, ExCeL London
Good Future Foundation is going to have our first-ever booth at Bett! If you are attending Bett and want to learn about AI beyond how it’s integrated into every EdTech product, we invite you to visit our booth to connect with other educators and find out the free resources and guidance around safe and responsible AI use in schools.
Throughout the three days at Bett, we have invited many of our partners and teachers who are passionate about getting AI right to enhance everyday teaching and learning to speak at our booth. Here’s a sneak peak of some of the sessions we have planned. We’ll share our full programme schedule on our website and LinkedIn in January.
In the meantime, register for the speaker sessions that interest you and we'll send you calendar invites to keep you on track during the busy BETT schedule. Plus, you'll receive video recordings afterwards to revisit any insights you found valuable.
Next Generation Schools Conference, 6 March 2026, The Cumberland Hotel London
We’re delighted to partner with Big Education to bring together educators from innovative schools across the country to learn about their leadership, curriculum, teaching, and assessment strategies. More than 35 workshops are scheduled for you to learn about the best practices and discover creative projects that other teachers and schools are doing.
One of the themes at this conference is how AI should be addressed in the education sector to prepare and benefit future generations. The Big AI project, an initiative where Good Future Foundation serves as a key partner, will announce the national rollout of educator-developed resources designed to help school leaders and teachers nurture critical AI literacy skills in their students. More than 70 schools and trusts are currently piloting these materials, and an enhanced version will be launched at the conference in March.
Click the photo below for more information and to access early bird discounts! We are also offering a limited number of free tickets to the educators from our AI Quality Mark schools. Reach out to us soon to secure yours before they are gone.
New Episode on Foundational Impact Podcast
Following our conversation with the winning team of this year’s Hult Prize, this month’s episode features the other seven student start-ups as they competed for the $1 million prize to scale their ventures. These young entrepreneurs are either proposing AI-enabled solutions to global challenges, deploying AI to scale their impact, or leveraging AI for their pitch preparation.
Their perspectives offer us a direct window into the skills our students genuinely need to succeed in the future of work. Some highlights from our conversation include:
💡The critical skill shift from retrieving answers to asking the right questions
💡Treating AI as a “teammate,” not a shortcut
💡Prompt engineering as the new literacy
💡Verify data and recognising bias to instill trust and ethics
You can now listen to the complete episode across all major podcast platforms.