You will develop your:

• Understanding of the generative AI tools available for use by school business professionals / functions.

• Practical skills and knowledge in deploying generative AI in the context of schools and trusts.

• Understanding of the opportunities afforded by organisational adoption of AI and strategies to maximise those opportunities.

• Understanding of the risks posed by organisational adoption of AI and options for addressing those risks.

• Understanding of the likely future trajectory of AI development and adoption, with implications for school and trust operations, structure and skills.

The sessions will be delivered by Chalkstream Managing Director, Ben Verinder.

Ben is a strategic communication and public relations expert advising boards, senior teams and communications professionals, with over 20 years of experience working with education clients.

He is one of 50 Founding Chartered public relations practitioners globally, a pioneering authority on AI in PR and leading commentator on the impact of AI on reputations and relationships.

Alongside Stephen Waddington, Ben is the co-editor of ‘AI for PR’, a new book on the subject commissioned by Kogan Page, due out in early 2026.

Ben has a background in communications – in print and digital journalism, software business development and in-house public relations at director level for the Association of Colleges.

Since 2013 his agency Chalkstream has delivered training, consultancy and research services to a wide range of MATs, universities, colleges and private training providers. He is a former primary school chair of governors.

Ben is a regular speaker on AI and PR, crisis and issues management, communication, reputation and research, and he delivers training and consultancy on these topics to a wide range of public and private sector clients in the UK and internationally, with a focus on helping communication teams adapt and integrate AI into their workflows.

Ben has supported a wide range of organisations in multiple sectors to adopt generative AI for communication and public relations, including many education clients.

Ben is a founder member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ AI in PR panel, the author of the first papers published by the CIPR on AI in PR (on AI and data ethics), a contributor to a wide range of publications on the topic, and creator of the ground-breaking AI and Reputation Leadership course.

Ben is also a founder member of the CIPR’s Behavioural Insights Interest Group and Chair of the Socially Mobile assessment panel.

The webinars are delivered remotely through Teams. The sessions will combine instruction, demonstration, group discussion, practice exercises and a bespoke online library of support materials.

If you purchase the whole series, you will be sent a document containing all of the joining instructions for the whole series before the first webinar.

If you purchase a single webinar, you will be sent joining instructions a couple of days before the webinar.

The webinars will run weekly on a Wednesday from 10am for up to 2 hours, for 3 weeks.

This webinar series is designed for members of SLT and school business professionals responsible for AI, digital and data operations, or for those wanting to gain more information / advise in this area.

There is an ISBL member rate and a non-member rate for all our training programmes. All rates quoted below are inclusive of VAT and per person:

Whole webinar series

• ISBL member rate: £300

• Non member rate: £360

Single webinars

• ISBL member rate: £114

• Non member rate: £138
  

One of the benefits of being an ISBL member is being able to access the member rates for training and conferences. If you are not a member, you can find out more about joining ISBL by clicking here.

To be able to access the ISBL member rate, your membership needs to be active before you book your place on the programme.

The full cost must be paid in full before you start the programme. Our Terms & Conditions can be found here.