The move positions Oldham at the forefront of the national tech conversation, ensuring local students are uniquely prepared for Greater Manchester’s booming £5bn digital economy.
A Bold Vision for AI in Education
As an independent co-educational day school in Oldham founded more than four hundred years ago, we are proud to announce our plans to fully integrate artificial intelligence seamlessly through everything we do. 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.
Bridging the UK Tech Skills Gap
The school’s position is deliberately unambiguous; AI will change the world more profoundly than any technology in living memory, and 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.
Alongside this, upskilling all teachers in AI, both in education and in the wider world will support them in ensuring Hulme students are prepared for the world they will be entering as graduates and professionals.
With 76% of UK tech employers reporting a recruitment crisis (IET, 2025), and Greater Manchester’s tech sector now home to 10,000 companies, Hulme is shifting emphasis toward critical thinking, collaboration, and ethical reasoning – the “human capabilities” that matter most as routine work becomes automated.
Kirsten Pankhurst, Principal of Hulme Grammar School, said:
“Our pupils will graduate into a world still being defined. Our responsibility is to prepare them for it with clarity and purpose. 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.”
To keep pace with a technology that changes week by week, 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 AI 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. 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.”