Art - Long-Term Knowledge Sequence - for Art and Design

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Jiven

This resource provides a long-term knowledge sequence for Art and Design, structured by key stages, year cycles, and seasonal units. It defines assessment focuses through core visual concepts including line, shape, space, colour and value, form and texture. Each unit outlines artist/media context and concrete, progressive skills such as mark-making vocabulary, colour mixing, creating depth and tones, sculptural construction and joining, and collage/textile techniques.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time9 min

AccessFree to download

Early Years

Reception

Autumn Unit - Line

Spring Unit - Space, Colour and Value

Summer Unit - Form & Texture

Key Stage 1

Yr1&2 Cycle A

Autumn Unit - Line

Spring Unit - Space

Summer Unit - Colour and Value

Yr1&2 Cycle B

Autumn Unit - Shape

Spring Unit - Form

Summer Unit - Texture

Key Stage 2

Yr 3&4 Cycle A

Autumn Unit - Line

Spring Unit - Space

| Art and Design
Sequence of Units & core knowledge sequence | | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | Unit(s) | Focus
(Artist and Media) | Assessment Focus (Elements)
(See separate progression document for techniques.)
Central substantive knowledge/concepts & application of these | | Early
Years | Reception | Autumn | Line
Shape | Drawing and painting
Drawing and painting | Line:
- Make a variety of marks on surfaces using different media.
- Begin to use vocabulary to describe lines, e.g. wavy, straight, curved, zigzag.
- Experiment creating lines for different purposes/effects.
Shape:
- Experiment creating different shapes with different media.
- Begin to name and recognise basic shapes in their own and others’work.
- Create abstract compositions using various shapes. | | | | Spring | Space
Colour and Value | Drawing and painting
Drawing and painting | Space:
- Understand that artwork can have a front and back so that it doesn’t look flat.
- Experiment making their artwork 3D by putting larger objects at the front of a drawing and smaller objects at the back.
Colour and value:
- Experiment with and use primary colours.
- Name colours (Primary and secondary) .
- Mix colours (Informally) .
- Know the names of different tools that bring colour.
- Use a range of tools to make coloured marks on paper.
- Begin to see colours as lighter or darker than one another (In black and white initially and build towards recognising this in a variety of colours) . | | | | Summer | Form &
Texture | Sculpture and collage | Form and Texture:
- Handle, feel and enjoy manipulating materials.
- Construct.
- Build and Destroy, | | | | | | | - Shape and model.
- Create simple collages.
- Weave (Simple) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | Key
Stage
1 | Yr1&2
Cycle A | Autumn | Line | Artist Pablo Picasso‘Self portrait’
Drawing and painting | - Identify and use different lines: straight, zigzag, curved, wavy, thick, thin.
- Know the vocabulary to describe different types of lines: vertical, horizontal, cross-hatched, wavy.
- Experiment with line (Drawing and Painting) .
- Draw and paint lines with increased skill, awareness and control.
- Create portraits by defining their use of line for expression. | | | | Spring | Space | Artist: Claude Monet‘Water Lilies’
Drawing and painting | - Begin to understand that using the space in a piece of artwork can give a piece of flat art depth.
- Begin to understand that depth is created through placing items in the foreground, midground and background of a piece of work.
- Recognise that objects in the foreground are bigger, objects in the midground are smaller, and objects in the background are smaller still. | | | | Summer | Colour and Value | Artist Kandinsky‘Concentric circles’
Painting | - Name all the colours.
- Mix colours to make new ones.
- Find collections of colour, e.g. blues, pinks, greens etc.
- To be able to apply colour with a range of tools.
- To make tones of colour (Using white) .
- To darken colours without using black
- To use colour on a dark scale. | | | | | | | | | | Yr1&2
Cycle B | Autumn | Shape | Artist Paul Klee
‘Senecio’
Drawing and Painting | - Create abstract compositions using various shapes.
- Identify, make and describe their use of shape for print.
- Compose geometric designs by adapting and synthesising the work of others. | | | | Spring | Form | Artist Anthony Gormley‘Angel of the North’(Yorkshire Sculpture Park)
Sculpture | - Construct.
- Carve.
- Pinch and roll coils and slabs using a modelling media.
- Use materials to make known objects for a purpose.
- Make simple joins.
- Have an awareness of natural and man-made forms. | | | | | | | - To be able to express personal experiences and ideas.
- To shape and form from

FAQs

How is the art curriculum knowledge sequence organized across the document?

It is organized by key stages, year cycles, and seasonal units, with each unit specifying a focus area, artist/media context, and assessment focus elements.

What core art concepts are introduced in Early Years Reception?

The sequence covers line, shape, space, colour and value, and later form and texture, with development through progressively more controlled making and describing.

What does the document emphasize for Key Stage 1 skills and assessment?

It emphasizes using appropriate vocabulary and techniques for line, creating depth through foreground/midground/background, mixing and applying colour with tools, and developing sculpture and collage/textile skills.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Jiven