Short answer: yes — because your staff are almost certainly already using AI. The question isn't whether AI will be used in your school; it's whether that use happens inside clear rules or outside them. A policy is what makes the difference, and it protects both your staff and your school if anything is ever questioned by a parent, governor or inspector.
It doesn't need to be long
A workable primary school AI policy covers five things: acceptable use, data protection, safeguarding checks, accountability, and a review date. That's typically two to three pages, not twenty. Our guide to what an AI policy needs to cover breaks each part down, and the AI Policy Checklist gives you the structure.
The cost of not having one
Without a policy, every member of staff makes their own judgement calls about what's appropriate — and eventually someone, with good intentions, pastes something into a public tool that shouldn't leave the building. A policy that arrives after an incident is worth far less than one that prevented it.