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 Bachelor's Club was one of the historic places which poet Robert Burns and his pals would while away the hours chewing over the topics of the day.

A visit to this authentically restored house, now converted into a museum chronicling the formative years of one of Scotland's greatest literary talents, is a must for any Burns enthusiast.

Magnificent late Victorian country house with gardens and wooded estate

Lanhydrock is the perfect country house and estate, with the feel of a wealthy but unpretentious family home.

This winter take a stroll around the extensive gardens and enjoy the year-round colour. There are beautiful herbaceous borders, a fabulous formal parterre and colourful higher gardens. 

Whether you are looking for a trip down memory lane, a chance to learn something new, a peaceful stroll through nature or a nice cup of tea and a cake, Hartlebury Castle has it all. Hosting exciting events throughout the year a great day out for all the family.

Ancient naked figure sculpted into the chalk hillside above Cerne Abbas

Standing at 180ft tall, this is Britain's largest chalk hill figure. It is also our most controversial.

Many theories surround the giant's identity. Is it an ancient symbol of spirituality? The Greco-Roman hero Hercules? Or a mockery of Oliver Cromwell? Local folklore has long held it to be an aid to fertility.

Tudor hunting lodge to fashionable home, set in a spectacular estate

Newark Park stands proud on top of the Cotswold escarpment, looking down into the Ozleworth valley to the Mendips beyond. This remote corner of south Gloucestershire is a secret and unspoilt place, with barely a sign of modern life visible in any direction. A place of architectural intrigue, quaint gardens and sprawling parkland there is much to see and do at Newark.

Enjoy a walk along the tranquil Dart Estuary

A beautiful area with stunning views over the River Dart estuary and Start Bay.

In spring and summer the coastal paths are ablaze with colour from wild flowers. Walk up to Gallants Bower to discover the Royalist Civil War fort and keep an eye out for the greater spotted woodpecker.

Gallants Bower

Spanning nine acres of land on its rocky plateau high above the Northumberland coastline, Bamburgh is one of the largest inhabited castles in the country.

Glittering Elizabethan mansion

Montacute is a masterpiece of Elizabethan Renaissance architecture and design. With its towering walls of glass, glow of ham stone, and its surrounding gardens it is a place of beauty and wonder.

This beautifully conserved dwelling and byre in Glen Lochay, near Killin, offers a unique insight into rural life in 19th-century and early 20th century Scotland.

There are 5 jointed and pegged cruck couples, two of which can be viewed easily in the byre end of the house.

Discover 300 years of Scottish history through this magnificent and carefully conserved neo-Palladian villa. Newhailes is famed for having some of the finest rococo interiors in Scotland.

Learning Officer and Ranger Service available. Your visit duration and content can be tailored to individual school's needs.

Get your hands inky at this living museum of a thriving printing firm in the Borders, whose premises were more or less unchanged for over a century.

Try your hand at being a printer's apprentice to learn the almost forgotten art of letterpress printing and typesetting.

Schools are welcomed and visits are very much tailored to suit the needs and requirements of the school.

Bovey Castle is history, excitement, glamour, adventure and the perfect retreat. 

Where else can you wear your Hunter wellies at 8am, golf spikes at 3pm and Manolo Blahniks for dinner? But while we offer our guests luxury and indulgence, this isn't a stuffy hotel where you can’t sit on the furniture or let your kids enjoy themselves.

An ancient castle and comfortable country home with dramatic vistas and subtropical gardens

Dramatically sited on a wooded hill, a castle has existed here since at least Norman times, with an impressive medieval gatehouse and ruined tower giving a reminder of its turbulent history.

The castle that you see today became a lavish country home during the 19th century for the Luttrell family, who lived here for 600 years.

The Natural History Museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology.

This is where the Shakespeare story began.

Shakespeare's Birthplace has been welcoming visitors for over 250 years. This is the house where William Shakespeare was born, grew up and played. He ate meals in the hall and he slept and dreamt in these rooms. Shakespeare also spent the first five years of married life in this house with his new wife, Anne Hathaway.

This restored historic 18th-century cottage near Glasgow vividly recreates the living and working conditions of a typical handloom weaver. See how a traditional tartan was made 200 years ago, completely by hand using original equipment in a unique setting.

This park provides an attractive gateway into Sandwell being located off the busy Hagley Road Junction, with beautiful Shakespeare Gardens. Work on a national lottery application is currently underway to restore the Grade II listed bandstand, Grade II listed house and the landscape.

Beautiful Georgian town house

Built in 1753, Lawrence House is leased to Launceston Town Council and used as a local museum and civic centre.

The museum is spread over three floors with exhibits that focus predominantly on local history including Launceston's intriguing association with Australia.

Penyrheol Theatre is situated in the heart of Gorseinon and forms part of Penyrheol Leisure Centre, which is heart of Gorseinon with direct and easy links to Junction 47 of the M4.

Beatrix Potter's 17th-century farmhouse: a time-capsule of her life

Enjoy the tale of Beatrix Potter by visiting Hill Top. Full of her favourite things, this house appears as if Beatrix had just stepped out for a walk. Every room contains a reference to a picture in a 'tale'.

Atmospheric house, featuring 485-hectare (1,200-acre) country park and formal walled garden

Widely acclaimed as one of Britain's finest historic houses, Erddig is a fascinating yet unpretentious early 18th-century country house reflecting the upstairs downstairs life of a gentry family over 250 years.

Compton Verney House is an 18th-century country mansion at Compton Verney near Kineton (between Stratford-upon-Avon and Banbury) which has been converted into the Compton Verney Art Gallery. 

Visitors of all ages are warmly welcomed to Warwickshire’s award-winning art gallery, housed in a Grade I listed mansion and surrounded by 120 acres of stunning 'Capability' Brown parkland.

Rolling hills and open spaces above the Stroud Valleys and Severn estuary

Minchinhampton Common is a large swathe of open grassland on the hill top and slopes of the Cotswold escarpment. It is a really important archaeological landscape, with prehistoric field systems, burial mounds and the remains of a defensive earthwork, known as The Bulwarks. In the summer the common is grazed by local commoners' cattle.

Clarence Pier Southsea is one of the largest amusement parks on the south coast and boasts all manner of amusements, rides and activities for all the family.

The Arcades and Pirate Pete's Indoor Adventure Playground are open all year. We also have plenty of food and drink outlets including our 100 seat Wimpy Express fast food restaurant.

We look forward to entertaining you!

Join us in the historic Potteries: take a tour of our atmospheric Victorian factory, see our beautiful wares being made, then try your hand at decorating your own pot in our studio. Relax in the cafe, wander in the walled garden, then shop for factory seconds or delightful gifts.

Factory Tours

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