New in Starlight: Smarter Audio Categories for Smarter Feedback

Starlight has just added a small but powerful upgrade: six new audio subcategories you can select when uploading any recording.

The default remains Lesson, so nothing changes for everyday use. But if you click the category drop-down, you can now choose a more specific type of session — allowing Starlight to generate the right feedback automatically, without needing to run another template.

This makes the system more intelligent, more context-aware, and better aligned with the real working rhythms of schools.

The six new categories — and what Starlight focuses on in each

Lesson: Uses the full Starlight Teaching Insights with Rating Scale template, beginning with a personalised Lesson Snapshot & Next Steps that highlights one key strength, one area for development, and a tailored call to action. The report then analyses the lesson across core areas — Learning Intentions, Behaviour Management, Adaptive Teaching, Questioning, Metacognition, Literacy and Vocabulary, Cross-Curricular Links, and Sentiment & Tone. All feedback is written directly to the teacher in a warm, coaching voice, offering clear strengths, precise next steps, and practical strategies for growth.

Meeting: Applies our Meeting Minutes & Actions Generator, summarising key discussion points, decisions, delegated actions, and offering coaching feedback on chairing, collaboration, and meeting effectiveness.

CPD/Training: Runs our CPD Reflection & Impact template, evaluating session purpose, structure, clarity, engagement, participation, evidence of impact, and alignment with school priorities — ideal for building your professional learning evidence base.

Cover Lesson: Generates a structured Cover Lesson Report, summarising what was taught, what students completed, engagement, any issues, progress made, and next steps to forward on to the class teacher so they can pick up seamlessly.

Coaching Conversation: Uses the Coaching Conversation Reflection template to analyse the quality of listening, questioning, balance, emotional tone, moments of insight, and clarity of next steps — supporting coaches to evidence and develop their practice.

Assembly: Runs our Assembly Reflection & Impact template, evaluating clarity of the message, engagement, tone, inclusivity, spiritual/moral reflection, student involvement, and the overall impact of the assembly.

Optional, simple, and built for real school workflows

Choosing a category is entirely optional. But when you do, Starlight automatically selects the most appropriate feedback model — no extra steps, no need to re-run a report.

It’s part of our commitment to making Starlight:

• easier to use

• more responsive to the type of session you’ve recorded

• better aligned with the feedback you actually want

And, as always, each small improvement helps the system grow smarter over time.

Spark Insight with Starlight — and use clearer tools for clearer thinking.

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The Insight Engine is written by Adam Sturdee, co-founder of Starlight—the UK’s first AI-powered coaching platform—and Assistant Headteacher at St Augustine’s Catholic College. This blog is part of a wider mission to support educators through meaningful reflection, not performance metrics. It documents the journey of building Starlight from the ground up, and explores how AI, when shaped with care, can reduce workload, surface insight, and help teachers think more deeply about their practice. Rooted in the belief that growth should be private, professional, and purposeful, The Insight Engine offers ideas and stories that put insight—not judgment—at the centre of development.