Everything the site has for Art & Design in one place — a subject playbook, schemes of work, examination playbooks, knowledge organisers and free classroom posters.
Written inside a school, not a consultancy, and built from the published
subject content rather than from any one board's papers.
The Art & Design playbook
One book for the whole department — the argument the rest of the shelf is
built on.
One book for the whole department — the head of art who has to lead it and the teacher who has to teach it on Monday. Built on what AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas actually require, not on what everyone assumes they require.
1 Curriculum
2 Craft
3 Independence
4 Evidence
5 Standard
AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas specifications & the Ofsted art and design research review· 93 pages, 88 sections ·For heads of art, subject leaders and every teacher in the department
Six half-termly units across one academic year, written backwards from what Year 8 states it assumes on entry. Year 7 establishes the formal elements, the colour wheel, first paint and print handling, informal clay, and the habit of keeping the working-out.
1a The Formal Elements: Line, Shape and Tone
1b Colour and Texture
2a Pattern, Symmetry and Printing
2b Telling Stories: Art Before Writing
3a Clay: Natural Forms
3b Artists and Me
The statutory programme of study for key stage 3 art and design (DfE, 2013)· 33 pages, 8 sections ·For heads of art, subject leaders and every teacher who has to deliver it
Six half-termly units across one academic year, sequenced so each builds what the next assumes. Year 7 establishes the formal elements; this year builds the breadth of media and the historical range the key stage requires.
1a Colour and Paint
1b The Human Figure and Face
2a Pattern Across Cultures: Ancient to Modern
2b Relief Printmaking
3a Clay and the Vessel
3b Artist Study and Personal Response
The statutory programme of study for key stage 3 art and design (DfE, 2013)· 35 pages, 8 sections ·For heads of art, subject leaders and every teacher who has to deliver it
Six half-termly units across one academic year, each building something the next one assumes — ending with an independent personal response that rehearses how a 14–16 course actually works.
1a Structures & Still Life
1b Portraiture & Identity
2a Surrealism & the Subconscious
2b Pop Art & Printmaking
3a 3D & Sculpture: Natural Forms
3b GCSE / IGCSE Taster — Personal Response
The statutory programme of study for key stage 3 art and design (DfE, 2013)· 38 pages, 8 sections ·For heads of art, subject leaders and every teacher who has to deliver it
Sixty-five pages, board-neutral, built on the DfE subject content and Ofqual's four assessment objectives rather than any one exam board's specification. Photography opens — untouched at key stage 3 — then print, surface and form rebuild what Years 7–9 only started into registered multi-layer print, a constructed surface and casting, each unit closing with a running record of what was tried, not just what was finished.
1a Recording: Observation Held Over Time
1b The Photographic Image
2a Print: Layer, Register, Edition
2b Surface and Stitch: Building in Layers
3a Form: Casting, Constructing, Repeating
3b First Sustained Project: From Question to Outcome
The GCSE subject content for art and design (DfE, 2015) and the four assessment objectives set by Ofqual (Ofqual/15/5643)· 65 pages, 16 sections ·For heads of art, subject leaders and every teacher who has to deliver it
Sixty-one pages, five units rather than six — the externally set assignment cannot be released before 2 January, and study leave takes the rest. A full exam-season calendar, a moderation-preparation page and guidance on access arrangements sit alongside the two components: the portfolio and the externally set assignment.
1a The Portfolio Project: Finding the Question
1b The Portfolio Project: Sustained Development
2a Resolving and Presenting the Portfolio
2b The Externally Set Assignment: the Preparatory Period
3a The Period of Sustained Focus, and What Comes Next
The GCSE subject content for art and design (DfE, 2015) and the four assessment objectives set by Ofqual (Ofqual/15/5643)· 61 pages, 18 sections ·For heads of art, subject leaders and every teacher who has to deliver it
Forty-eight pages across two years, board-neutral by construction: every requirement comes from the DfE subject content for art and design or from Ofqual's subject level conditions, and no specification is reproduced anywhere. The personal investigation runs from the summer of Year 12 with the written element begun as a one-page argument and redrafted against the work twice. What genuinely differs between boards — the objective weightings inside Ofqual's 20–30 per cent ranges, the preparatory period, and whether a word count is set — is collected in one table rather than guessed at.
1a Building a Practice: Recording, Media and the Habit of Enquiry
1b The Sustained Project: Working From a Theme
3 1c Finding the Question: the Personal Investigation Begins
2a The Personal Investigation: Sustained Development and the Written Element
2b Resolving and Presenting the Personal Investigation
6 2c The Externally Set Assignment: the Preparatory Period and the Supervised Period
The DfE subject content for GCE AS and A level art and design, and Ofqual's GCE subject level conditions· 48 pages, 14 sections ·For heads of department, subject leaders and every teacher who has to deliver it
A separate book for each board — AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel, at GCSE and A Level — with what each assessment objective is worth quoted from the specification.
AQA only — AQA GCSE Art and Design (8201–8206). Every specification statement is quoted verbatim and sourced — nothing here is paraphrased from memory or invented.
AO1 Develop Investigate sources and let them change the work
AO2 Refine Experiment, then decide — and show the deciding
AO3 Record Draw and annotate while the thinking is happening
AO4 Present Resolve an intention the student actually owns
AQA GCSE Art and Design (8201–8206)· 45 pages, six parts ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT — not a student revision guide
OCR only — OCR GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (J170–J176). Every specification statement is quoted verbatim and sourced — nothing here is paraphrased from memory or invented.
AO1 Develop Investigate sources and let them change the work
AO2 Refine Experiment, then decide — and show the deciding
AO3 Record Draw and annotate while the thinking is happening
AO4 Present Resolve an intention the student actually owns
OCR GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (J170–J176)· 45 pages, six parts ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT — not a student revision guide
Pearson Edexcel only — Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (1AD0 and endorsed titles). Every specification statement is quoted verbatim and sourced — nothing here is paraphrased from memory or invented.
AO1 Develop Investigate sources and let them change the work
AO2 Refine Experiment, then decide — and show the deciding
AO3 Record Draw and annotate while the thinking is happening
AO4 Present Resolve an intention the student actually owns
Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (1AD0 and endorsed titles)· 45 pages, six parts ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT — not a student revision guide
AQA only — AQA A-level Art and Design (7201–7206). An examination manual for an A Level Art and Design department. It is about how the qualification is assessed and how students gain marks — not how to teach the subject, which the people reading it already know. Part One is board-specific and quoted verbatim. Everything after it is about the assessment, and would be true whichever board you sat.
AO1 Develop
AO2 Explore and select
AO3 Record
AO4 Present
AQA A-level Art and Design (7201–7206)· 28 pages, 21 sections ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT — not a student revision guide
OCR only — OCR A Level Art and Design (H600–H606). An examination manual for an A Level Art and Design department. It is about how the qualification is assessed and how students gain marks — not how to teach the subject, which the people reading it already know. Part One is board-specific and quoted verbatim. Everything after it is about the assessment, and would be true whichever board you sat.
AO1 Develop
AO2 Explore and select
AO3 Record
AO4 Present
OCR A Level Art and Design (H600–H606)· 28 pages, 21 sections ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT — not a student revision guide
Pearson Edexcel only — Pearson Edexcel A level Art and Design (9AD0 and endorsed titles). An examination manual for an A Level Art and Design department. It is about how the qualification is assessed and how students gain marks — not how to teach the subject, which the people reading it already know. Part One is board-specific and quoted verbatim. Everything after it is about the assessment, and would be true whichever board you sat.
AO1 Develop
AO2 Explore and select
AO3 Record
AO4 Present
Pearson Edexcel A level Art and Design (9AD0 and endorsed titles)· 28 pages, 21 sections ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT — not a student revision guide
The Year 8 half-terms: colour and paint, the human figure and face, pattern across cultures, relief printmaking, clay and the vessel, and artist study.
Empower Educators Year 8 Art & Design scheme of work· 6 pages, 6 sections ·For art teachers and heads of department — printed one per pupil
The Year 9 half-terms: structures and still life, portraiture and identity, surrealism, pop art and printmaking, sculpture in natural forms, and a GCSE taster in personal response.
Empower Educators Year 9 Art & Design scheme of work· 6 pages, 6 sections ·For art teachers and heads of department — printed one per pupil
Five A3 posters: the four objectives and what each is worth, the five formal elements, the seven things a sketchbook has to show, and what examiners reward.
Quoted from the published subject content and the exam boards' own specifications· 5 A3 posters ·For classroom walls, corridors and revision spaces
Two A3 posters for the sketchbook itself: the seven things an artist research page needs across a double page, and the four questions that make writing about an artist earn marks.
Quoted from the published subject content and the exam boards' own specifications· 2 A3 posters ·For classroom walls, corridors and revision spaces
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Clarity — only runs if you say yes, and it is used to see which resources people
actually reach. What is collected.
