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

The Foxton Canal Museum is located in the former boiler house for the plane's steam engine. The museum covers the history of the locks and the plane, the lives of the canal workers, and other aspects of the local canal. There is also a collection of Measham pottery.

Foxton Canal Museum is fun, children of all ages love it.

Discover a woodland wonderland full of natural wildlife. From quiet walks to action-packed family fun with laser tag and adventure play, uncover nature at its best.

Rosliston Forestry Centre lies at the heart of The National Forest, a woodland haven offering outdoor activities, family fun and a range of events throughout the year.

Welcome to Center Parcs, the award-winning number one short break provider in the UK. Our five Villages are nestled within beautiful and secluded woodland, providing an ideal location for a unique short break to remember.

Caernarfon Castle is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, built in 1283 (it took over 1,000 more than four years to construct) by Edward I in order to stamp his authority on the rebellious Welsh. 

Castlerigg is perhaps the most atmospheric and dramatically sited of all British stone circles, with panoramic views and the mountains of Helvellyn and High Seat as a backdrop.

It is also among the earliest British circles, raised in about 3000 BC during the Neolithic period. 

Brathay Trust is a charity with the mission to improve the life chances of children and young people. We do this by inspiring them to engage positively in their communities.

An excavated section, part cut into rock, of the ramparts of the huge Iron Age trading and power-centre of the Brigantes, the most important tribe in pre- Roman northern Britain. Some 4 miles (61⁄2 kilometres) long, the defences enclosed an area of 766 acres (310 hectares). Following Roman conquest, the Brigantian centre moved to Aldborough Roman Site.

A mile-long stretch of enigmatic ancient road - probably Roman but possibly later or earlier - amid wild and beautiful moorland, still with its hard core and drainage ditches.

Enter a world where 235 million years of history is brought to life. From majestic mammoths to Saxon invaders, visitors to the Hull and East Riding museum of archaeology can look forward to an experience that is unique, educational and fun.

Peat Rigg Outdoor Training Centre is a converted nineteenth century farmhouse set in 90 acres of beautiful rural scenery. It is located within Cropton Forest on the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park

Beddgelert is undoubtedly Snowdonia’s loveliest village. A place of legend, culture and history; yet rich with activities, adventures and attractions. It is a beautiful place to visit, and an event better place to stay for a holiday.

An impressive Norman motte and bailey castle, dating from before 1086 and among the first raised in Yorkshire, with the earthworks of an attendant fortified 'borough'.

Skipsea Castle, built in about 1086, was the residence and administrative centre of the lords of Holderness.

For an interesting day out visit Aldborough Roman site among the northern most urban centres in the Roman Empire.

With its breathtaking views of the Yorkshire Dales, Richmond Castle fully deserves its place as one of the finest tourist attractions in North Yorkshire. The castle was originally built to subdue the unruly North of England it is one of the greatest Norman fortresses in Britain. 

Birthplace and family home of Sir Isaac Newton

Woolsthorpe Manor is the birthplace and was the family home of 

While most mansions fell into disrepair after decades of use, Woodchester Mansion was never actually finished. The mansion was commissioned by William Leigh in the 1850s, but the Victorian workmen mysteriously downed their tools and abandoned it mid-construction in 1873.

An unfinished masterpiece

Winkworth Arboretum is a National Trust-owned arboretum located between Godalming and Hascombe in Surrey.

Winkworth Arboretum exhibits large collections of azalea, rhododendron, and holly on slopes leading down to ornamental lakes. 

Three Bronze Age burial mounds, once part of a much larger 'barrow cemetery', including two bowl barrows, and the largest and finest disc barrow in Hampshire.

The barrows here, originally part of a larger group, stand on a ridge and may have acted as territorial markers. This group is a particularly important prehistoric monument as it survives so well.

Britain's first fully themed indoor family resort and amusement park. A magical world of fun, thrills and experiences for all the family. Now including the indoor Galactic Play Zone!

Intimate manor house with Arts and Crafts-style garden

Lytes Cary Manor is an intimate medieval manor house with a beautiful Arts and Crafts garden where you can imagine living.

Originally the family home of Henry Lyte, where he translated the unique Niewe Herbal book on herbal remedies, Lytes Cary was then lovingly restored in the 20th century by Sir Walter Jenner.

The Iford valley has been occupied since Roman times and the manor house sits idyllically by the Frome river in the steep-sided valley. Iford Manor is mediaeval in origin, the classical facade being added in the eighteenth century when the hanging woodlands above the garden were planted.

Discover Wallington, much-loved home to generations of the unconventional Trevelyan family

Gifted to you by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, Socialist MP and ‘illogical Englishman’, our 13,000-acre estate has something for everyone.

Magnificent house and grounds in the style of a 19th-century French chateau

Waddesdon Manor has so much to offer young people: beautiful, safe grounds and space to explore, living history, opportunities for learning and fun both outdoors and in. Highlights include the Woodland Playground, Explorer Trails around the gardens, the Children's shop, and the Aviary.

A Revolution in Road Safety

You can't get a driving licence in the UK until you're 17 but now, thanks to Young Driver, if you're 11 or over, you can learn to drive at one of our UK centres.

Country home of the Victorian statesman Benjamin Disraeli

Hughenden offers a vivid insight into the charismatic personality and colourful private life of the most unlikely Victorian Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, who lived here from 1848 to 1881. You can browse among an extraordinary collection of personal memorabilia, and there's even a Victorian playroom for younger visitors.

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