Art & Design · Key Stage 3 · £4.99

Year 8
Art & Design
Scheme of Work

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.

£4.99The Year 8 scheme: 6 half-termly units, 35 pages

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The whole key stage: KS3 Art & Design scheme of work

Everything else this site has for Art & Design: Art & Design teaching resources

1aColour and Paint
1bThe Human Figure and Face
2aPattern Across Cultures: Ancient to Modern
2bRelief Printmaking
3aClay and the Vessel
3bArtist Study and Personal Response

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: experimentation is not extra work, it is the process. No student moves to a final piece without a visible trail of tried, reviewed and changed decisions.

Every duration, material, artist and assessment word is a strong default rather than a fixed rule. Year 8 means ages 12–13, or S1–S2 in Scotland.

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: 35 pages · 8 sections

The sequence

What this scheme of work covers, unit by unit

The 6 units of the Year 8 Art & Design Scheme of Work, in teaching order, with the term each one runs in and the question it is built to answer, what students make, the artists they meet and the vocabulary they learn.

1a
Colour and Paint
Autumn 1 · approx. 7 weeks · September – October
Why does the same colour look different depending on what sits next to it?
End outcome
An A3 painted study of a still life or landscape source, mixed from a limited palette.
Core skills
Mixing accurately from three primaries and white · Controlling paint consistency · Applying paint in layers · Matching a mixed colour to an observed one
Key artists
J.M.W. Turner, Sonia Delaunay, Josef Albers
Key vocabulary
primary, secondary, tertiary, hue, tint, shade, tone, complementary, harmonious, palette, consistency
1b
The Human Figure and Face
Autumn 2 · approx. 7 weeks · November – December
What has to be right before a drawing of a person starts to look like a person?
End outcome
An A3 half-length figure or portrait study, constructed on guidelines and finished in tone.
Core skills
Constructing guidelines · Measuring and checking placement · Gesture drawing at speed · Tonal modelling on a curved surface
Key artists
Leonardo da Vinci, Käthe Kollwitz, Amrita Sher-Gil
Key vocabulary
proportion, guideline, gesture, plane, foreshortening, contour, likeness, distortion
2a
Pattern Across Cultures: Ancient to Modern
Spring 1 · approx. 6 weeks · January – February
Who does a pattern belong to, and what changes when it travels?
End outcome
A designed repeat pattern developed from a researched historical source, with the source properly named.
Core skills
Geometric construction with compass and ruler · Stylising a source into a motif · Block, half-drop and rotational repeats
Key artists
Ancient Egyptian decorative tradition, Islamic geometric tradition, William Morris
Key vocabulary
motif, repeat, half-drop, tessellation, symmetry, rotation, stylisation, provenance, appropriation
2b
Relief Printmaking
Spring 2 · approx. 6 weeks · February – April
What does a process give you that drawing by hand cannot?
End outcome
A hand-printed edition of three consistent prints from a cut block, developed from the Unit 2a motif.
Core skills
Transferring and reversing a design · Safe, controlled cutting · Inking evenly · Registration · Editioning
Key artists
Katsushika Hokusai, Elizabeth Catlett, Edward Bawden
Key vocabulary
relief, block, proof, edition, registration, reduction, burnishing, brayer, reversal
3a
Clay and the Vessel
Summer 1 · approx. 6 weeks · April – May
Why has almost every civilisation made pots, and why do they all look different?
End outcome
A hand-built vessel with a designed surface, referenced to a named historical ceramic tradition.
Core skills
Pinch, coil and slab forming · Scoring and slipping · Impressing and incising · Working to a drawn profile
Key artists
Ancient Greek black-figure pottery, Nok terracotta, Magdalene Odundo
Key vocabulary
vessel, profile, coil, slab, score, slip, leather-hard, greenware, bisque, burnish, incise
3b
Artist Study and Personal Response
Summer 2 · approx. 6 weeks · June – July
If I choose the artist and the outcome myself, can I still work like an artist?
End outcome
A personal response to a self-chosen artist, presented with the research, experiments and rejected options.
Core skills
Selecting an artist for a usable technique · Recording, experimenting, developing and refining independently · Annotating decisions
Key artists
Student-selected from a curated departmental list
Key vocabulary
response, research, development, refinement, rationale, independence, evidence