PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education)

PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education)

Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) can mean all things to all people, but in a positive way. It enables schools to analyse what they offer to students and to use PSHE programmes to provide the final rounded curriculum. This is not easy as PSHE is not so much a ‘subject’ as a group of learning experiences that need careful binding together lest they become amorphous.

PSHE at its best brings emotional literacy, social skills and healthy attitudes to the core studies of the history, economic state and social make-up of the local and wider community

Ofsted has praised some schools’ multi-faceted approaches to creating a caring and coherent school and reaching out to the local communities, and some schools for delivering sex and relations programmes effectively, and some for their commitment to equality and diversity. Visits and activities outside the classroom can act not only as focal points for a school’s work but as catalysts to reinforce the messages contained in the courses.

In some ways it does not matter where the visit is to. The importance is how well they are planned, the matching of the experiences to the aim, and the enthusiasm staff and students bring to it.

So, typically learning for PSHE takes place whilst undertaking other activities. Here we list a range of ideas which the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom suggest as activities which can engender excellent experiences to benefit students in this area.

Attitudes and values

  • Talking about an object in a museum, or visiting a place of worship can give insight into issues, other cultures or periods of history.
  • Creating your own work of art can give rise to explorations and understandings about the world and our place in it
  • A visit to a farm can stimulate debate about animal husbandry and food production, and provide a context for designing a Fairtrade enterprise.
  • Adventure education can provide opportunities to show different skills, such as leadership or teamwork.
  • Seeing a play on the stage can bring a text alive and stimulate conversations about the values and actions of the characters.
  • A residential can provide a different setting for conversations about what we believe and what we think is important.

Confidence and resilience

  • Learning a new skill, such as map-reading or how to look at a painting, builds independence and confidence.
  • Adventure education enables young people to test themselves in various ways and develop new aptitudes and dispositions.
  • For young people with disabilities, a residential trip can foster independence and give them a rare opportunity to build close relationships outside the family.
  • Planning their own experience or activity helps young people to gain confidence in a wide range of project planning skills.  It can develop resilience in dealing with conflicting opinions, and in finding solutions to project challenges.

Communication and social skills

  • A drama workshop requires teamwork and helps, to strengthen friendship groups.
  • A residential experience enables staff to get to know young people, and young people get to know each other, discovering different aspects of each others’ personalities.
  • An experience, such as visiting a power station, stimulates discussion and encourages young people to share ideas and opinions.
  • A musical performance gives young people a feeling of achievement and a sense of personal success.
  • Young people planning their own programme or activities gives them voice and choice and ensures their active involvement.
  • Undertaking voluntary work in the community gives young people a sense of making a positive contribution.

Knowledge of the world beyond the classroom

  • Young people who live in the country may encounter a town or city for the first time or vice versa.
  • Environmentalists, town planners, artists, curators, scientists, politicians, musicians, dancers and actors can all act as new and powerful role models.
  • Going to an arts venue can encourage young people to try the experience again.
  • Recording the reminiscences of older people gives young people new insight into their community, and brings historical events alive.
  • Going to a local civic institution like a town hall builds knowledge of how communities function.
  • A school or youth council enables young people to learn about and participate in democratic processes
  • Visiting the library enables young people to find out what they have to offer – apart from lending books.
  • Children and young people with profound learning difficulties and disabilities may not often experience visits to galleries, concerts or the countryside because of the difficulties of transport and personal care which parents have to consider and cannot always manage alone. Educational visits may provide the only means for these young people to have such experiences.

Physical development and well-being

  • Visiting a park, field studies centre or making a school garden all provide physical activity and develop an interest in the environment.
  • Participating in recreational activities help to develop physical well-being and the growth of confidence.
  • Many learning outside the classroom activities can also provide attractive alternatives to competitive sports and can lead to a lifelong interest in healthy physical recreation.

Emotional spiritual and moral development

  • An integrated dance workshop with able bodied and disabled participants can help young people empathise and develop awareness of disability.
  • Activities in the natural environment can encourage a feeling of awe and wonder, and an appreciation of silence and solitude.
  • Visiting a place of worship develops an understanding of religion, reflection and spirituality.
  • Engaging with young people in conversations about values and beliefs, right and wrong, good and bad supports their moral development.

Main organisations:

PSHE Association

National Centre for Citizenship and the Law

Inclusion: NASEN

Venues for this Curriculum

Guided Tours, Baking and craft activities for pre booked groups available throughout the year. Picnic area and plenty of space to just play. Please note limited opening times.

A to Z Expeditions specialise in delivering Duke of Edinburgh's Award training and expeditions. We offer tailor-made programmes of DofE training and expeditions for schools and groups and we run open DofE expeditions for individuals and small groups.

Discover what a Bristol sugar plantation and slave owner’s home might have looked like around 1790. Eleven rooms spread over four floors reveal what life was like above and below stairs, from the kitchen in the basement where servants prepared meals to the elegant formal rooms above. Free entry.

Exportise teaches a variety of sports to children of all levels using the latest coaching techniques. Our resident coaches and representatives are there to make sure that every child goes home with a sense of achievement, fun memories, a group of new friends and the desire to return. We aim to provide a friendly, personal service throughout your holiday.

This unique collection interprets the rich architectural history of Bath and the men who transformed a provincial town into the world famous Georgian Spa. It demonstrates how classical design influenced the buildings and illustrates the construction of a house from the cellars to the rafters.

We cater for Key Stages 1 to 4.

Established in 1980 Britain’s most experienced summer holiday operator for children and teenagers aged 3-17 years. With a host of exciting and adventurous activities to choose from.

Set in beautiful parkland the Museum and Art Gallery has something for everyone. Alongside our temporary exhibitions programme we have galleries depicting the rich and diverse history of the area using our amazing collections.

Relax & experience the nostalgia of this unique heritage railway, winding you gently on a 5 1/2 mile round steam journey over ever changing gradients and through beautiful picturesque North Staffordshire countryside.

Kids love bowling, and if they are under 6 they can use a ramp and gutter guards. Great family fun!

A bowling centre located in Shaw Ridge Leisure Park. We have 32 modern fully computerised lanes, American Pool tables and Amusement Arcades catered towards families and kids. There is also the Beach Road Cafe Bar for some delicious meal and snack options.

Why not try Cosmic bowling with the lights turned down and the music turned up for some extra fun on the lanes.

A small early Bronze Age stone circle traditionally believed to depict nine ladies turned to stone as a penalty for dancing on Sunday. It is part of a complex of prehistoric circles and standing stones on Stanton Moor.

Charnwood Museum features a wide range of exhibits reflecting the history, geology, archaeology and industries of Charnwood and the surrounding area. Permanent displays include ‘Coming to Charnwood’, ‘The Natural World of Charnwood’, ‘Living off the Land’ and ‘Earning a Living’.

A treasure chest of history, telling the story of a fishing and trading port that became a fashionable resort

The museum features the geology and prehistory of the area, maritime and piracy, a local history gallery and the Story of Tenby Gallery as well as two art galleries, one featuring the permanent collection, the second exhibiting changing temporary exhibitions. 

Explore the amazingly vast history of South Tyneside, come face to face with exotic snakes, spiders and lizards and admire fantastic works of art at South Shields Museum & Art Gallery.

Kids love bowling, and if they are under 6 they can use a ramp and gutter guards. This Lakeside SuperBowl has 20 lanes!

Offers a family sized 6 lane alley behind the leisure centre, great for kids with bumpers, ramps and light balls available.

Oakwood Youth Challenge is an outdoor activity centre with residential accommodation. Join us for fun activity days, schools residentials, birthday parties and youth clubs and be challenged spiritually, mentally and physically.

This well-preserved and impressive Neolithic 'dolmen' burial chamber stands 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) high. There are five standing stones, surmounted by a huge capstone.

Trethevy Quoit is a particularly well-preserved example of a portal dolmen, a type of monument once common in Cornwall and dating to the early or middle part of the Neolithic period, around 3500–2500 BC.

Now in a wooded glade, this small prehistoric circle of nine standing stones was constructed around 4,000 years ago. Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows are nearby.

Lying in a wooded glade just yards from the busy A35, this little stone circle resembles a huddle of ancient conspirators, lurking in the trees.

Cornwall Learning, the Cornwall Council organisation, brings together the expertise and experience of a range of teams to focus on improving standards, aspirations and skills of children, young people and those working with them.

Corby Laser Arena  is an indoor laser tag arena and birthday party venue.

There's so much to do at the newly refurbished Manchester Central Library:

The Hatton stages a highly regarded programme of historical, modern and contemporary art exhibitions. The permanent collection consists of over 3,500 works, including Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbarn.

The remains of four 13th century stone farmsteads, on land originally farmed in the Bronze Age.

This isolated Dartmoor hamlet was probably abandoned in the early 15th century.

The fine remains of this abandoned and isolated settlement lie on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, between the granite landmarks of Hound Tor and Greator Rocks.

Set like a lakeside temple in a landscaped park, The Grange at Northington is the foremost example of the Greek Revival style in England. Created between 1804 and 1809 when William Wilkins encased an earlier house in Classical facades, most strikingly the temple front supported on eight gigantic columns.

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