Year 7
Art & Design
Scheme of Work

Ten sections per unit, in the same order every time. Lessons are one row each rather than a page each — enough to teach from, not so much that it cannot be maintained across a whole department.

One principle applies to every unit and is stated once at the front: the working-out is kept. Experiments, tests and rejected attempts are evidence, not scrap, and they are assessed.

Every duration, material, artist and assessment word is a strong default rather than a fixed rule. Year 7 means ages 11–12, or P7–S1 in Scotland. The document assumes nothing about primary experience, because it varies more at the start of Year 7 than at any other point in the key stage.

Written to

The statutory programme of study for key stage 3 art and design (DfE, 2013)

Intended for

heads of art, subject leaders and every teacher who has to deliver it

Extent

33 pages · 8 sections

1. 1a

   The Formal Elements: Line, Shape and Tone

   Autumn 1 · approx. 7 weeks · September – October

   How do you draw something so that someone else can tell what it is?

   End outcome

   An A3 observational drawing of a still life group, using line, shape and a three-step tonal range.

   Core skills

   Controlling 2H to 6B · Drawing basic shapes accurately · Hatching and cross-hatching · A three-step tonal scale

   Key artists

   Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Bridget Riley

   Key vocabulary

   line, shape, form, tone, texture, pattern, colour, contour, hatching, observation, light source

2. 1b

   Colour and Texture

   Autumn 2 · approx. 7 weeks · November – December

   Can you make a picture that someone can almost feel?

   End outcome

   An A3 mixed-media study of a textured natural object, using a colour scheme chosen for a reason.

   Core skills

   Mixing secondaries and tertiaries from three primaries · Handling ready-mix paint and brushes · Creating implied texture through mark-making · Rubbing, printing and collage for real texture

   Key artists

   Henri Matisse, Yayoi Kusama, Anni Albers

   Key vocabulary

   primary, secondary, tertiary, warm, cool, complementary, harmonious, texture, implied, frottage, collage

3. 2a

   Pattern, Symmetry and Printing

   Spring 1 · approx. 6 weeks · January – February

   Why does a repeated shape stop looking like a shape and start looking like a pattern?

   End outcome

   A printed repeat pattern made with found objects and hand-cut stamps, from a designed motif.

   Core skills

   Designing a simple motif · Reflective and rotational repeats · Inking and printing with found objects and stamps · Even pressure and coverage

   Key artists

   Adinkra cloth tradition (Ghana), Japanese katagami stencils, M.C. Escher

   Key vocabulary

   motif, repeat, symmetry, reflection, rotation, tessellation, stamp, impression, coverage

4. 2b

   Telling Stories: Art Before Writing

   Spring 2 · approx. 6 weeks · February – April

   How did people tell stories before anyone could write them down?

   End outcome

   A narrative sequence of three images telling one story, using an earth-pigment palette.

   Core skills

   Simplifying a figure to essential action · Working with a restricted earth palette · Composing a sequence · Mark-making on a textured ground

   Key artists

   Lascaux cave paintings, Ancient Egyptian tomb painting, the Bayeux Tapestry

   Key vocabulary

   narrative, sequence, convention, pigment, ochre, silhouette, register, composition

5. 3a

   Clay: Natural Forms

   Summer 1 · approx. 6 weeks · April – May

   What can you make with your hands that you could never draw?

   End outcome

   A modelled clay natural form with a worked surface, made by pinching and modelling from one piece.

   Core skills

   Pinching from one piece · Modelling to a natural form · Impressing and incising surface · Keeping walls even

   Key artists

   Barbara Hepworth, Andy Goldsworthy, Kate Malone

   Key vocabulary

   form, in the round, pinch, model, impress, incise, leather-hard, greenware, texture

6. 3b

   Artists and Me

   Summer 2 · approx. 6 weeks · June – July

   What can I take from an artist and make my own?

   End outcome

   A personal response to one artist chosen from a departmental shortlist, with the research and experiments kept.

   Core skills

   Researching an artist for a technique · Testing that technique on your own subject · Choosing between options · Annotating what you did and why

   Key artists

   Student-selected from a departmental shortlist of six

   Key vocabulary

   response, research, technique, experiment, develop, annotate, evidence