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

Edgbaston is the home of the Warwickshire County Cricket Club Museum.

The Birmingham test match venue has hosted Warwickshire matches for more than 100 years and has seen the greats of international and county cricket grace its playing field.

Located 10 minutes from Kings Cross St. Pancras International and a short walk from Angel tube station, the Business Design Centre is one of London’s most popular conference and exhibition venues.

An important Dickens collection, based in the author’s only surviving London house, decorated in Victorian style. See some of his possessions, plus other memorabilia.

School Visits

Contact us for full details and to plan your trip.

Key Stage One

Each visit includes:

Get the kids out ice skating for an afternoon. Great idea if you're looking for fun days out to keep your students active and learn new skills.

Manchester Central is an award-winning venue in the heart of one of Europe's most vibrant cities. Its vaulted arches and station clock have made Manchester Central an iconic city feature for over 130 years.

A new standard in the provision of learning outside the classroom, including a £1m high-adrenaline activity park

This is the largest Kingswood centre, accommodating 630 young people in a mix of en-suite and standard multi-bedded rooms.

It has an all weather centre with an impressive 25,000 sq ft sports hall and heated indoor swimming pool.

History on a grand scale - from knights and wizards to gunpowder plotters and passionate collectors

Alnwick Castle is brimming with history to be discovered, offering a range of activities and tours for groups and school visits alike, as well as a host of group benefits.

The castle has provided the backdrop for many famous films and TV series such as Blackadder, Downton Abbey and of course Harry Potter.

School Trips

Visitors can trace the story of the Cotswolds from Prehistory to the late 19th Century, with hands-on exhibits, interactive displays and a wealth of precious artefacts. There are animated and practical games, and audio-visual screens to bring the past to life for everyone from schoolchildren to grandparents.

A unique experience: two treasure hunt style walks of discovery to keep the whole family intrigued and amused. Keep the kids happy answering clues and matching pictures, whilst reading stories about this famous ‘City of Legends’. Buy the booklet from our website and explore in your own time.

The 45-minute tours of the Royal Mews are led by the Wardens, dressed in their striking red and navy livery, and depart at regular intervals throughout the day at the start of the visit.

Aardman's adeptness of engaging audiences with compelling stories told through animation, has earned the company a deserved worldwide reputation. Their award-winning work produces a unique brand of independent film alongside work for broadcast and advertising spots. The studio has had ten Oscar® nominations, and has won four.

Among the most outstanding Roman villa survivals in Britain, Lullingstone provides a unique all weather school visit.

Set in the attractive surroundings of the Darent Valley in Kent, the villa was begun in about AD 100, and developed to suit the tastes and beliefs of successive wealthy owners, reaching its peak of luxury in the mid-4th century.

A classic Norman motte and bailey castle, founded soon after the Conquest to overawe the Saxon town. A later stone shell-keep crowns its steep mound, giving sweeping views across the town rooftops to the River Dart.

The shell of Appuldurcombe, once the grandest house on the Isle of Wight and still an important example of English baroque Architecture stands in 'Capability' Brown-designed grounds.

An exhibition of photographs and prints depict the house and its history.

Face to face with history. We are home to the UK’s national collection of arms and armour.

At our museum in Leeds there are over 8,500 objects on display in five galleries: War, Tournament, Oriental, Self-defence, and Hunting.

General Collection

A fantastically fun way to get out and explore the historic plague village of Derbyshire. Kids will get an understanding of history whilst solving the mystery of the lost treasure from days gone by. Adults get to share and help them in their learning and fun.

Inside one of Wrexham's landmark buildings, Wrexham County Borough Museum is the starting point for discovering the eventful history of this region on the English-Welsh border.

The museum's displays and collections tell the stories of Wrexham County Borough and its people from prehistory up to the present day.

Iconic Tudor Manor House

‘Logically it should not still be standing up!’

Seeing the tumbling architecture of Little Moreton Hall for the first time, engineers in 1990 could not believe their eyes. Fortunately this timber-framed building, curled around with a scenic moat, has defied logic for over 500 years.

Discover something new

An enchanting and inspiring journey through Norwich’s past

This museum is a real treat. Beautifully composed displays lead you through a series of rooms on two floors that circle the courtyard of this historic building. As well as a clear time-line of the city’s dramatic history you’re introduced to Norwich people of all kinds in displays peppered with insights and anecdotes.

The Ridgeway is the ancient route that stretched from Dorset to the Wash and still traverses the chalk ridges of the Berkshire Downs. Often described as Britain's oldest road, it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that the area is home to three of the South East's most important prehistoric sites: Uffington Castle, White Horse and Dragon Hill.

A 17th-century grandstand and Cotswold country estate

Lodge Park

John 'Crump' Dutton built this 17th-century grandstand, fuelled by his passion for deer coursing, gambling, banqueting and entertaining.

Remains of Roman civilian town, an archaeologist’s paradise!

Tribal capital of the Silures (Venta Silurum) - impressive fourth-century walls standing up to 17 feet (5.2m) high. Excavated houses, forum-basilica and a Romano-British temple also remain.

The West Gate barns area provides car parking, level access to toilet facilities and interpretation panels.

Yarmouth Castle, Isle of Wight provides a magnificent picnic spot, with views over the Solent for a lovely relaxing family day by the sea. Step inside and discover the atmospheric recreation of how the rooms were used in the 16th century, and see the exhibition about the many wrecks which occurred in the treacherous stretch of sea which the castle overlooks.

With a history that spans 350 years, the defences of the Garrison on St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, form one of the most remarkable and impressive coastal defence systems in England.

You can enjoy a two-hour walk alongside the ramparts of these defensive walls and earthworks, dating from the 16th to 18th centuries.

Be king or queen for the day in this great Northumbrian stronghold
If you are planning a fun family day out in Northumberland then look no further than Warkworth Castle with its magnificent cross-shaped keep crowning a hilltop above the River Coquet.

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