How AI Marking Works

Written in plain language so students, parents and teachers can understand exactly what happens when you submit an essay.

1. What is AI marking?

When you submit an essay on The English Hub, we use a computer program called an AI model to read your work, compare it against the official GCSE marking guide, and give you a predicted grade with feedback. Think of it like a very fast practice marker that can help you spot strengths and areas to improve — but it is not a real marker and the grade is not an official result.

2. Which AI do we use?

We use a model called Claude, made by a company called Anthropic. Anthropic is based in the United States and focuses on building AI that is safe and helpful.

3. What information is sent to the AI?

When you click “Submit for marking”, we send only the text of your essay and the question you chose to the AI. We do not send:

Your name or email address
Your date of birth or age
Your school name
Any other personal information

Your essay text is sent securely over an encrypted connection. Under our agreement with Anthropic, your essay text is not used to train their AI models.

4. Is the grade official?

No. The grade you receive is a predicted grade based on how the AI interprets the marking guide. It is meant as a learning guide to help you practise and improve. Only a qualified marker appointed by your exam board (AQA, Edexcel, OCR or Eduqas) can award an official GCSE grade.

5. Can a human review my work instead?

Yes. If you, your parent or guardian, or your teacher would like a human to review your essay instead of (or as well as) the AI, you can contact us at [email protected] and we will arrange this where possible.

6. How do I turn off AI marking?

You (or your parent/guardian) can turn off AI features at any time. When AI features are turned off, you will still be able to use every other part of The English Hub — only the AI essay marking and AI-powered recommendations will be disabled.

To turn off AI features:

Go to Parent Settings (parents/guardians) or ask your parent to do this for you.
Find the AI Features section.
Turn off the “Enable AI essay marking” switch.
Your choice is saved straight away.

You can turn AI features back on at any time using the same switch. If you have any trouble, email us at [email protected].

7. Your rights

Under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Children's Code), you have the right to:

Know that AI is being used to assess your work (this page tells you that).
Opt out of AI-powered features at any time.
Request that a human reviews any decision made by AI.
Ask us to delete your essay submissions and AI feedback.

For full details on how we handle your data, see our Privacy Policy.

8. Questions?

If you have any questions about how AI is used on The English Hub, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]
Website: theenglishhub.app