A starter activity for students to look more closely at Art and question what the work is about. This is great for developing thinking skills and questioning, for students to go beyond the basic description of the work. It gives students good opportunity to respond to AO1 - developing ideas and commenting on the work of others.

A starter activity for students to explore connections between images and this leads into discussion on censorship in art, film, music and literature. The starter comes with notes to inform the students' discussion. This starter is great for students to consider wider issues in what is deemed acceptable in different cultures and through history for GCSE and A Level students and is a nice trigger for British Values of tolerance, free speech and rule of law. Although I use this a lot in Art and Design it can be a good discussion starter for English, Music, Film and Media as well as PSHE.

A starter activity to engage students and help them think outside the box. I've always found that odd collections of images are of much interest to all students and helps them to try to spot connections, which develops thinking skills and the nature of the activity in making guesses throws up really interesting and unexpected ideas which helps to generate interesting discussion. Working in small groups of mixed ability helps in bringing out ideas and seeing how ideas can be explored in different ways. Suitable for any secondary stage, good for GCSE and A level as a way of processing possible ideas. This is on a power point slide with notes accompanying, and if you search for the Fatboy Slim video it acts as a clue and thinking time.

A starter activity designed at getting students to consider and explore the ideas and concepts behind the design process and how this affects the look of the product. This is ideal for any age group but particularly good for GCSE and A Level graphics communication in particular, and will give information on which students can show an informed response.

A starter activity to promote thinking skills for AO2 and AO3 for GCSE and A level - how artists use media, and how they review, modify and refine. This one works really well to break down barriers of not wanting to go beyond the comfort zone when developing work and shows students how artists work in ways where they change their minds when working. Ideal for a lesson involving drawing and reworking a drawing

A starter activity which always engages students in looking for how artists create illusions in different ways and trick us in how we look. The slide has six images with explanations on slide 2. This starter can be used for any age group you are working with to look a bit harder.

A set of 10 images across different cultures and a lesson plan to work as an intervention lesson or lessons in the development of coursework projects. It requires the careful selection of a set of media into party bags with one of the images - and works on the premise that the more constricting the rules you place on students the more creative they get and the harder they look. This is ideal for GCSE and A Level and allows for creative links with other culture's approaches and stylisations. It also hits AO2 in requiring students to explore the boundaries of working with limited random media. The lesson plan includes references to differentiation and equality and diversity as well as highlighting the opportunities through the lesson to hit the learning objectives

A set of images of extreme facial expression to use for drawing - images of sculptures featuring the work of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Bernini and Rodin. I've used these with year 9 and above - and find that getting students to draw from sculptures offers them a start in seeing where the essential forms are through tonal changes without being distracted by detail - the withdrawal away from the reality of a basic photograph of a face seems to help in achieving more expressive and stronger drawing. The powerpoint contains 22 images of facial expressions in sculptures and links to information. This can form the basis of a set of lessons that lead into their own explorations of facial expression through their own direct observations. The expressions can cause some smiles too.

A starter activity for sessions on drawing. This starter encourages students to consider new ways of drawing and promotes creative approaches to get them away from thinking drawing can only be done with dry media in a prescribed way. The power point has 7 images on slide one for students to work through and is ideal at GCSE and A Level for AO2 possibilities.

A fun quiz to test knowledge and engage students in some research in finding the answers. I've used it as longer starter to a lesson and as a homework. Multiple choice format to encourage an educated guess from the students it works well with KS4 and post 16 classes.

This scheme of work takes students through stages in making a successful composition Key areas covered are observation drawing skills, key terminology, rules of composition, critical referencing – contextual studies, development of ideas in range of media and approach and realisation of outcomes. I've used this with classes from year 8 to post 16, the idea of the secret formula for how to make a composition goes down really well and gives the students a tangible set of rues that they can continue to apply in painting in as they tackle other projects. The set of lessons can be delivered to fill a half term, and this version always worked best in the Autumn through using natural forms and colours in Autumn.

A fun starter activity which encourages students to think outside the box in exploring connections between images as well as widening their appreciation of where names come from, and the enduring qualities involved in the nature of our culture. This is suitable for GCSE and A Level Art and Design groups, but could equally be used in an English lesson, or other subjects as a thinking skills exercise which could lead into independent research.

A collection of Matisse quotes to start the week with - will last a term. Great for a start of a discussion or just to have up on the board. There's also a set of quotes by Lucien Freud to do a Friday Freud

A fun starter activity testing knowledge developing thinking skills - will broaden students' understanding of art as well as encouraging them to think that all artists started as students.

A starter activity which develops thinking skills by asking students to consider categorization different to normally expected connections. It will also tick an Equality and Diversity box and allow students to consider issues relevant to them. This can be used with any age group but is particularly good for GCSE and A level and is a great activity to stimulate discussion

This is a starter activity that encourages curiosity in looking at photography and to stimulate ideas in possible approaches.

This is a lesson to stimulate thinking skills whilst developing skills in drawing from observation. It requires students to consider what the different elements are in painting and drawing, useful in developing responses for AO1 and 2 at GCSE and A Level

A fun starter activity to encourage students to think outside the box in making links between works and learning. A 5 -10 minute starter good for GCSE and A level students which develops thinking for AO1.

This is a starter activity which encourages students to consider that they should not always believe what they see, particularly in a photograph. The activity gives opportunities for students to discuss the ethics of manipulating a photograph to mislead the viewer. This can be used as an intervention starter for any art or photography class, but maybe of particular use to GCSE and A level photography students - covering AO1 discussing and developing ideas.