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

Not all of the sites on Hadrian's Wall were heavily guarded fortresses. Corbridge was a supply base and bustling town where the Romans and civilians would pick up food and provisions.

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is named after the famous crossing point on the Berlin Wall between east and west. It was created to document the so-called "best border security system in the world". 

Imposing and well-preserved turret with adjoining stretches of Hadrian's Wall.

 

Turrets west of  Birdoswald on the length of Hadrian's Wall. Piper Sike has a cooking-hearth.

One of the best-preserved milecastles on Hadrian's Wall, Poltross includes an oven, a stair to the rampart walk, and the remains of its north gateway.

A fine stretch of Hadrian's Wall on a steep slope, with turrets and an impressive milecastle, probably built by the Second Legion.

One of the best places of all to see the Wall, dramatically snaking and diving along the crags of the Whin Sill.

Wall was an important staging post on Watling Street, the Roman military road to North Wales. It provided overnight accommodation for travelling Roman officials and imperial messengers. The foundations of an inn and bathhouse can be seen, and many of the excavated finds are displayed in the on-site museum.

Wall section and a surviving piece of turret 2 1⁄2 metres (8.2 feet) high, built by men of the Twentieth Legion.

You can explore the extensive remains of the Roman Fort and the longest continuous remaining stretch of this magnificent World Heritage Site can be seen here. Inside, the exhibition has interesting interactive displays and artefacts, as well as a model of the Wall at its full height.

A length of Wall with milecastle remains, impressively sited along the Whin Sill, commanding fine views of many prehistoric and later earthworks to the north.

Part of Hadrian’s Wall, Chesters is also the best-preserved Roman cavalry fort in Britain.

You can easily see what life would have been like here at the Empire’s northern outpost as you wander round the officers' quarters and explore the well-preserved baths and steam room.

The remains of a small temple to the native god 'Antenociticus', in the 'vicus' (civilian settlement) which stood outside Benwell fort.

A 15-metre (49 feet) length of narrow Wall on broad foundations, reflecting a change of policy during construction concerning the thickness of the Wall.

Two sites - one amazing day!

Explore the remains and uncovering of an ancient Roman fort. Then visit the Roman Army Museum.

Before, during and after Hadrian's Wall

A fine 914 metre (2,999 feet) stretch of Wall, including two turrets and impressive bridge remains beside the River Irthing. Linked by a bridge to Birdoswald Roman Fort.

The childhood home of Anne Boleyn

Experience 700 years of history at the romantic double-moated 13th century castle once the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and Mother of Elizabeth I.

Discover magnificent award-winning gardens set in 125 acres of glorious grounds. No matter what time of year you visit you are guaranteed a breath-taking display.

An indoor skate park with a garden and shop. There are different sessions running throughout the day so make sure you check before travelling. There is also a garden area with a ramp and slacklining rig out the back.

There are sessions for all ages and abilities. The park is ideal for anyone wanting to scoot, skateboard or use inline skates. 

The National Media Museum is home to over 3.5 million items of historical and cultural significance, and our diverse Collection encompasses some of the finest and most compelling visual material to be found anywhere in the world.

Oakwood Theme Park is a theme park in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Booking your visit
Booking your trip couldn’t be easier, just call our Bookings Team on 01834 815170 and we’ll do the rest!

Don’t forget to book your coach early to avoid disappointment!

The Matthew of Bristol, a replica of the English ship that explorer John Cabot used to discover North America in 1497.

Learn about how The Matthew after the voyage's sponsor Bristolian Richard Amerike (not Amerigo Vespucci as is widely believed) in 1507.

Beaumanor Hall is a Victorian country house located in Woodhouse, Leicestershire. Set in 34 acres of idyllic countryside, Beaumanor has been run by Leicestershire County Council since the 1970s and offers a whole range of facilities.

Welcome to Wadworthshire

Located in the bustling market town of Devizes, Wiltshire, our Visitor Centre is open Monday to Saturday all year round for you to browse & enjoy. Boasting a free self-guided exhibition of brewing memorabilia, a unique collection of hand painted pub signs, and much more, there really is more to Wadworth than meets the eye.

You and your class can explore art and architecture both on-site and in the classroom

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. It has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects; its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.

At St Catherine's we are aiming to offer a learning experience to visiting schools and groups that uses the landscape as a personal stimulus for the wider issues of sustainability.

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