Independent Schools Guide 2025: How this Melbourne college is navigating the world of AI

Year 9 Haileybury students are exploring how AI can improve lives as part of a program that showcases how the technology works and the ethics of AI.

A key focus of the school’s AI for Good program is learning how the technology can support ideas and inventions that help people in need.

“One group used AI to develop an idea for a hand-held food allergy testing device that could be taken to restaurants,” says Haileybury Head of Digital Michelle Dennis.

“They realised that, for many people with food allergies, ordering food can be tough, so they designed a handy device that scans food within seconds and lets the user know if there are allergens in their meal.”

Other students harnessed AI to design a spinal pressure sensor to help people with spinal injuries move more easily and with less pain, while others developed a “trash collecting” robot to clear litter from beaches.

This year, students will do a deep dive into critical thinking and the ethical use of AI.

“We are in an age when young people need to know how to determine what is a fad and what will have an impact,” Dennis says. “They need to be able to determine what is AI-generated and what is real.”

Haileybury has five principles that steer AI use: academic integrity, critical thinking and ethics, privacy and security, creative uses, and key skills.

The technology enters the classroom from Year 8 with the use of platforms like ChatGPT. Students learn about the importance of personal safety and security when using AI platforms, information bias, “deepfakes”, and how to use AI honestly.

From there, students discover how ChatGPT can help them practise essay writing, provide mathematical questions to support revision and be a tool to benefit their studies in general.

Understanding AI platforms also provides students with skills that will most likely be an important part of their careers. Supporting this, some tech-minded Year 12 students have joined a new Tech Ventures initiative and are working alongside staff in Haileybury’s IT department to gain hands-on industry experience in how the school’s AI platform operates.

“The challenge with AI is that as soon as you talk about it, the technology changes, so the conversation must continue to evolve,” Dennis says