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

Escape city life and step into tropical paradise of an aquarium in the heart of the buzzing city of Birmingham. At the National SEA LIFE centre you can take an amazing marine voyage beneath the waves and experience so much more! 

Penydarren was the site where the World's first Steam Engine ran on rails. Designed by Richard Trevithick, in 1804 his steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil.

Chapter Arts Centre houses contemporary art in Canton, just a few minutes from Cardiff city centre. A former school, the building now features a 60ft light box which spans the whole frontage of the building - a living canvas to showcase Welsh artists' work. Equipped with cinemas, gallery space, restaurant and bar, Chapter is now one of Europe's leading arts centres.

Free admission.

Wales Millennium Centre is Wales’ national home for the performing arts in Cardiff Bay. One of the UK’s top cultural attractions and home to eight resident partners, this Welsh landmark stages musicals, opera, ballet, circus and contemporary dance alongside the UK’s largest programme of free performances.

Saltdean Lido at Saltdean Park Road, Saltdean, in the city of Brighton and Hove, is an Art Deco Lido designed by architect R.W.H. Jones and opened in 1938.

PLEASE NOTE THE LIDO'S SWIMMING FACILITIES ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED BUT THE LIBRARY AND COMMUNITY CENTRE ARE OPEN.

Whether you are studying the Romans, Normans, castles, Victorians, or the Home Front and World War II, you will find plenty to keep your pupils engrossed both whilst visiting Cardiff Castle and during preparation and follow-up work at school.

In our fun, free and interactive galleries, discover how Cardiff was transformed from the small market town of the 1300s, to one of the world's biggest ports in the 1900s, to the cool, cosmopolitan capital we know today.

Small Tudor artillery fort guarding Dartmouth's inner harbour, picturesquely sited on the quayside.

Bickleigh Castle is sure to cast its magical spell on you. With its romance, rich history and stunning setting it has become a unique venue.

There are a huge range of activities available both at the Castle itself or very nearby, including:

Discover the true spirit of the characters from South Molton's past, through the exhibits and interactive displays. The collections reflect the life and times of the town and the surrounding countryside. Local trades, agriculture and domestic history are also strongly featured. 

A fascinating medieval cob house, containing a cross-passage screen decorated with a painting of St Andrew. See the smoke-blackened timbers. Discover the fascinating history behind the cottage and enjoy the garden with contemporary cob summer house.

Dartmouth Museum is a small, fascinating and interesting museum housed in an atmospheric old merchant's house, built in approximately 1640.

A dramatic 17th century fortress built to defend the coastline from the Dutch, and keep watch on a recently rebellious town. Still in use by the military today.

The Brixham Heritage Museum and History Society was founded in 1958 for the purpose of recording, saving and displaying the heritage of the historic town and fishing port.

Since 1976, the Museum has been located in what was once the Police Station and Sergeant's House, built 1902.

Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre is a 45,000 square foot indoor attraction that provides a unique opportunity to view our Fairground Heritage in a beautiful rural location. It is a facility unique in the UK, designed to capture the magic of a bygone age through exhibits, vintage engineering and stunning artwork displays - offering a great day out for all the family.

The displays in Dawlish Museum are changed regularly and aim to represent life past and present in the town, for example the acclaimed display of the February storms which severely damaged the railway.

Children as well as adults are catered for and there are activities especially for them.

As the site of officer training for the Royal Navy for over a century, Britannia Royal Naval College in many respects resembles a living museum, not unlike a stately home, in which modern day-to-day life exists in parallel with a rich history and tradition. 

The College is an imposing Edwardian building that stands on Mount Boone overlooking the town of Dartmouth.

Burton Art Gallery & Museum situated in Victoria Park, Bideford, was reopened in May 1994, after a major extension and refurbishment. The new building has three exhibition spaces including a permanent pottery exhibition, a museum, craft gallery, shop, workshop and lecture area, tourist information desk and cafe.

A small collection of artifacts and bones recovered from the caves at Buckfastleigh Devon and interpretation of the geology and speleology of that area.

On our public guided walk you can see our Lime Kilns, 120,000 bone deposits and meet our Greater Horseshoe bats.

Devon's Crealy Great Adventure Theme Park is an award winning family attraction located just minutes from junction 30 of the M5 near Exeter. The Park has over 60 rides and attractions set in over 100 acres of glorious Devon countryside. We are proud to be a theme park that caters for the whole family, from the smallest children to parents and grandparents alike.

Opening in 1898, the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway in North Devon was considered one of the world's most famous and picturesque narrow-gauge railways. Despite its attraction, it closed in September 1935 because of declining passenger numbers.

The Museum of British Surfing has what’s believed to be the largest & most comprehensive public collection in Europe. Our policy with vintage surfboards is to collect at least one example of each British shaper. We also take in foreign-made surfboards if they have an important connection with British surfing.

The Society was formed in February 2000 to further understanding of the geology, occurrence and properties of the ball clays of Devon and Dorset and to preserve the history and heritage of clay production, transport and use. 

Housed in the west wing of the Bishop’s Palace is a modern library and archive facility in which we preserve many thousands of books and documents – most of them rare or unique - and make them available to people.

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