Built by a teacher still in the classroom.

The founder

I’m Dr Stuart David Acton. I’ve taught science across KS3, KS4 and A Level since 2008. I currently teach at Malmesbury School, where I also lead AI implementation and deliver cross-trust CPD on EEF-informed feedback and inclusive classroom practice.

The work I’m proudest of has always been the work that lives in actual lessons — the resource a teacher uses tomorrow, the revision strategy that helps a SEND student get to the exam at all, the feedback that closes a specific gap. Tools that survive contact with the school day.

Why AES exists

For eighteen years I bolted solutions onto problems that EdTech companies hadn’t got round to solving — spreadsheets, Google Forms, hand-built revision planners on lined paper. They mostly worked. None of them scaled past my own classroom.

Two things shifted in the last eighteen months. The 2026 SEND white paper made it explicit that every school needs a credible universal offer for inclusive practice — and most secondary timetables can’t deliver that with the staffing they have. At the same time, AI got good enough that a practising teacher could build school-grade tools in a weekend, not a year.

AES is the answer to both. Tools built by someone who still teaches, for the specific pressures schools are under right now, at a price point that doesn’t require selling to a multi-academy trust first.

The principles

Three things shape every decision AES makes:

1. Designed for the hardest case first. When you build for the SEND learner who can’t plan, you raise the floor for every learner. The reverse is rarely true.
2. Evidence over opinion. Every tool starts from a published research base — EEF guidance, cognitive science, retrieval-practice literature — rather than a product manager’s instinct.
3. Proven before it’s sold. Every AES tool runs in a real school before it’s offered to anyone else. The Revision Planner has been live at Malmesbury since 2025. The Feedback Tool launches there first in 2026–27.

The meta-story

Everything you’re reading on this website — the design, the code, the photography, the copy — was built by one teacher across two evenings using AI. The total cash cost so far is under £10 a month in hosting.

The traditional path would have been a brand strategist, a designer, a photographer, a copywriter, and a development agency, costing around £25,000 over three to four months. AI compressed that into a working weekend.

That story is itself the sales argument. Schools and trusts spend serious money on websites, learning platforms, and bespoke tools that AI could now build for a fraction of the cost. AES is the proof, and AES tools are the demonstration. If you want to know what we’re capable of building for your school, you’re looking at it.

Get in touch

I read every school enquiry myself and reply within a day or two. Whether you want to talk about the Revision Planner, get early access to the Feedback Tool, or just trade notes on AI in schools — the door is open.