A look ahead at artificial intelligence: Surrey Schools approves three AI platforms for student use

November 12, 2025

In the district’s ongoing efforts to prepare students for a future shaped by artificial intelligence, Surrey Schools has added three AI platforms to a list of programs that are suitable for enhancing student learning in the classroom.

Now featured on the Surrey Schools ONE website, the following AI tools have been district-approved for student use, with access granted by teachers for students with parent consent:

MagicSchool, an education-focused AI platform to help teachers and students with teaching and learning, and support administrative tasks for educators;
SchoolAI, designed to personalize student learning through individualized lesson plans and progress tracking, streamline teaching and enhance administrative oversight; and
TeachAid, a curriculum creation and implementation assistant.

“We are committed to community education and transparency with a parent-friendly AI website to keep families informed of what’s approved in Surrey, what’s safe and how we’re preparing citizens in our students in an increasingly digital world,” said Assistant Supt. Jacob Sol.

“We continue working with the Ministry of Education and Child Care, and collaborating with other districts across Canada and internationally, so our practices stay aligned with emerging provincial, national and global standards for AI.”

The three programs join Adobe Express, Adobe Podcast, Book Creator, Canva for Education and Padlet as approved AI platforms for students in Surrey and White Rock.

Over the past year, the use of AI in learning environments has been thoroughly explored by staff, ensuring that the district’s approach is aligned with its strategic plan and Learning by Design principles. Programs are vetted for learning value and data protection, with safe, secure and reputable tools selected for approval. Additionally, teachers have been provided with further guidelines for AI safety.

“In our [professional development] workshops, we review the importance of only using district-approved AI tools and resources with students,” said David A’Bear, District Principal with Education Services. “These approved tools and resources have to meet specific criteria to ensure they are educationally sound, they meet specific technical standards and that data and privacy are secure.”

While in the past, school districts were slow to embrace social media during its infancy, the advent of AI has instilled in both administrators and teachers the importance of understanding its benefits for classroom use. To support professional development, helping teachers have created a two-year digital literacy series for classroom teachers that explores digital identity and footprint, online safety, healthy habits, potential harms and communication.

Likewise, the district has encouraged students to explore the use of AI as a thought partner, harnessing its power to assist in generating ideas, offer alternative perspectives, analyze complex data, challenge assumptions, suggest new strategies and support decision-making. Some examples of secondary student use include:

using AI to check programming code they’ve written for accuracy and provide details on what might be missing;
using AI as a thought partner to generate writing prompts for in-class assignments that they complete without the use of technology; and
learning to write prompts asking AI to generate responses based on a variety of scientific and mathematical concepts, then working in small groups to analyze the responses and determine if the content is correct.

“They’re engaging in critical thinking to verify responses based on their own human learning,” said A’Bear.

“We’re really taking the approach that if we can help and encourage students to be critical of their own use with AI, those learnings will translate to a critical lens on the use of AI for others,” said Sol.

For both teachers and parents, numerous AI resources are available through Surrey Schools ONE, including videos and AI Lab podcasts from many professional development workshops, as well as the district’s Navigating an AI Future video series and recordings from last school year’s two parent information sessions.

For more information, see the elementary and secondary AI fact sheets (available in multiple languages below) or visit surreyschoolsone.ca/ai