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

This picturesque castle set in Calshot, a coastal village in Southampton, Hampshire, England. This beautiful village provides a perfect relaxing family day out by the coast.  

This artillery fort, built by Henry VIII to defend the sea passage to Southampton, was recently used as a Navy and RAF base.

Among the best preserved ancient villages in the south west, occupied from the Iron Age until late Roman times. It includes the foundations of stone houses, and an intriguing 'fogou' underground passage.

Archaeology

An Iron Age hillfort with impressive ramparts, now surrounded by woodland.

Blackbury Camp, or Castle, is one of many similar sites across southern Britain dating from the period known as the Iron Age (from about 800 BC to the 1st century AD).

Built in 1877, this restored six storey mill with complete gear, sails and fantail still works today. The award-winning tearoom sells produce made from the mill's organic, stone-ground flour.

The Museum is housed in Fleckney Centre also known as Fleckney Library; the building was formerly the village school. The Library is located in the centre of the village opposite the duck pond and chicane. There is on-site parking and also a public car park close by (60yds).

Admission is free!

In a spectacular cliff-edge position, this unique Bronze Age tomb had a long and complex history as a sacred site.

Immerse yourself in the fascinating and surprising history of mid-Antrim. As soon as you enter the Museum's fourteen metre high atrium, you'll begin to see mid-Antrim in a whole new light! The entrance contains special installations designed to open your eyes to the links between people and place, local history and local identity.

Among the largest and most complex of Iron Age hillforts in Europe, Maiden Castle’s huge multiple ramparts once protected several hundred residents. Excavations in the 1930s and 1980s revealed the site's 4,000-year history, from a Neolithic causewayed enclosure to a small Roman temple built on the site in the 4th century AD. 

Book a tour of the magnificent Grade 1 listed Bruce Castle with one of the curators? See behind the scenes. Discover more about the history of the building and the fascinating people who lived here.

Schools

Visitors to Manchester United's Old Trafford ground can see the museum and its exhibits as well as taking a tour of the stadium.

Memorablia from the team's famous past and present is on display.

Items on show include artefacts that celebrate Manchester United successes. A special treble exhibition charts the winning season of 1998 to 1999.

Looking for an educational trip out? Visit Portchester Castle in Hampshire, South East England. It provides the perfect setting for a relaxed, fun, historic day out!

The castle’s commanding location has made it a major factor in the Solent's defences for hundreds of years.

The two massive Saxon stone crosses, elaborately carved with animals and Biblical scenes including the Nativity of Christ and the Crucifixion, dominate the cobbled market square of Sandbach. Probably dating from the 9th century, and originally painted as well as carved, they are among the finest surviving examples of Anglo-Saxon high crosses.

Visit the substantial remains of a strong and important motte and bailey castle dating from the 11th to 13th centuries, with surrounding walls, ditches and earthworks.

The Inniskillings Museum is situated in the 15th Century Keep and 18th century Military outbuildings of Enniskillen Castle. The Museum tells the story of the town of Enniskillen's two regiments - the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

A 'cemetery' of 44 Bronze Age burial mounds of varying types and sizes, straddling the A35 main road.

Fermanagh County Museum is a registered museum, under the MLA Accreditation Scheme for museums. The museum is located within and around the historic Enniskillen Castle and was established in 1976 by Fermanagh District Council. The museum collections reflect Fermanagh's history, culture and environment.

Roofed and walled in stone, this complex of passages is the largest and best-preserved of several mysterious underground tunnels associated with Cornish Iron Age settlements. The purpose of such 'fogous' - a Cornish-language word meaning 'cave' - is unknown. Refuges, storage chambers or ritual shrines have all been suggested.

With its majestic Norman nave and glorious 13th century chapter house, this is a great little stop to get the kids' imaginations going. 

It's what you wish to make of it, but a valuable stop whether taken as educational, religious or whimsical.

Small roofless chapel, established early in the twelfth century.

This is an unstaffed open site, so there's no booking required!

Great for a rainy day indoors. The latest film releases shown all day everyday.

Manchester Town Hall in Albert Square is one of the most iconic landmarks in the city. Regarded as one of the finest examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in the United Kingdom, it is one of the most important Grade 1 listed buildings in England. The building was designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse and was completed in 1877.

A Neolithic chambered tomb with an enigmatic 'false entrance'.

This barrow, also known as Rodmarton Long Barrow, is of early Neolithic date (4000–3500 BC).

It seems that the site was used for burials well after the Neolithic period as Roman pottery and coins of Claudius Gothicus (AD 168–70) have been found.

The remains of a Bronze Age settlement, side by side with several sacred sites, including three stone rows, a stone circle, standing stones and burial cairns, probably constructed over a long period between c. 2500 BC and 1000 BC.

Traditionally believed to be a monarch and his courtiers petrified by a witch, the Rollright Stones are a set standing stones which consist of three groups: the King's Men stone circle; the Whispering Knights burial chamber; and the single King Stone.

They span nearly 2,000 years of Neolithic and Bronze Age development.

Hire a Canadian Canoe or a Kayak and discover the tranquil beauty and natural wildlife of the River Wye. Contact in advance if booking with children.

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