Bett 2026: Day 1 Highlights

I headed straight to The Arena for my first keynote of the day, a completely packed session with Professor Hannah Fry and Amol Rajan. Their conversation explored how artificial intelligence is reshaping education, touching on personalised learning, ethics, and the importance of keeping human connection at the heart of teaching. The audience were fully involved too, with several thoughtful questions that added even more depth to the discussion.

Next up was Jason Wilmot’s keynote on how creativity and artificial intelligence are redefining what is possible in the classroom with Canva, offering fresh ways to spark curiosity and build future‑ready skills. He also introduced Canva’s Affinity, a new free design application featuring customisable Vector, Pixel, and Layout studios - essentially all the design and photo‑editing tools you need in one place. 

Using Canva every day for our trust‑wide design projects means Affinity will slot perfectly into my workflow, and I am really looking forward to getting stuck in and exploring what it can do.

After the session, I headed to the Canva stand for an insightful demonstration, some great conversations with their advisors, and even managed to bag myself a sketchy notebook and pencil from their free vending machine!

Another highlight was the BBC Education stand, which once again delivered a brilliant range of resources, including their 2025/2026 year planner. It is something I have picked up in previous years because it is incredibly practical, making it easy to mark key educational dates and feed them straight into our school calendar.

All in all, it was a day full of inspiration, useful tools, and plenty of ideas I am excited to be bringing back to our trust.

Lois - Trust Marketing Manager