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Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education

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PSHE network Quality-assured support and resources Further support

What is PSHE, and why is it important?

Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education supports pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to stay healthy, safe and prepared for life beyond school.

Within PSHE, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) is a compulsory subject. It helps children and young people to understand themselves, build and maintain healthy relationships, and make informed decisions in a changing world.

High-quality PSHE not only promotes wellbeing and safety, but also supports pupils to achieve academically and develop skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Statutory guidance for quality PSHE delivery

The statutory guidance sets out what schools should do and the legal duties they must comply with when teaching Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), and Health Education. The guidance also emphasises that while an established PSHE curriculum is necessary, lessons should be adapted to meet the needs of local communities and responsive to pupils’ individual needs.

The introduction of statutory RSHE focuses on mandatory education in these areas:

  • Drugs, alcohol, and tobacco
  • Relationships and sex education (RSE)
  • Mental health and wellbeing
  • Safety, including online safety and addressing internet harms
  • Physical activity

For more information, visit the Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance.

The PSHE Association has released a helpful summary of the changes to the 2025 statutory guidance.

News and updates

We encourage school staff to subscribe to the PEP bulletin for weekly term-time news and updates. Please email [email protected] to be added to the mailing list.

Portsmouth PSHE network

PSHE Leads working in Portsmouth schools are encouraged to attend a network meeting, held every term, in person. It is a chance to meet with other PSHE leads across the city, ask questions and share ideas.

Network dates are available on the PEP Calendar, or email the Portsmouth City Council Public Health team if you are a PSHE lead interested in joining the PSHE network.

The PSHE Lead network meetings use a ‘You Said, We Did’ format, where requests raised at the meeting will be actioned by meeting facilitators from the Portsmouth City Council public health team. This framework ensures PSHE leads are kept informed of how their feedback is being used to improve PSHE delivery in Portsmouth.

Requests can be anything related to PSHE, however some recent examples include:

  • Meeting with Portsmouth headteachers to encourage best practice when supporting young people experiencing puberty and periods.
  • Commissioning of city-wide school membership to the PSHE Association.
  • Development and delivery of a Public Health lesson for Aspirations Week.
  • Setting up the Portsmouth PSHE Community of Practice webpage.

PSHE leads also have access to the ‘Portsmouth PSHE Community of Practice’, which is a private group on Knowledge Hub aimed at sharing resources to strengthen PSHE city-wide. Education staff interested in joining the community of practice can do so by setting up an account and requesting access here.

Quality-assured support and resources

  • PSHE Association
    A trusted source for approved lesson plans on various PSHE topics. The PSHE Association also offers a curriculum builder and an audit tool to help schools assess their PSHE provision and implement improvements. All schools in Portsmouth should have a membership to the PSHE Association – please contact Portsmouth Public Health if you are a PSHE lead and need access.
  • School Zone (Department of Health and Social Care)
    School Zone provides curriculum-linked, PSHE Association-accredited teaching resources for primary and secondary schools, including lesson plans, wellbeing tools, and assembly resources. They also have a Campaign Resource Centre, which includes a wide range of resources including national health campaigns, to compliment what is being taught in pshe.
  • Sex Education Forum
    The Sex Education Forum is a charity focused on ensuring young people have access to high-quality RSE by sharing best practices, monitoring RSE provision, and identifying gaps.
  • NSPCC Speak Out, Stay Safe – Virtual assemblies and follow-up lesson plans available for primary schools, home educators and practitioners in alternative provisions to help children aged 5 to 11 years. Amended resources are also available for SEND/ASN/ALN and d/Deaf children.

Free training

Brook Introduction to RSE – A self-directed online course introducing the core aspects of teaching RSE. Introduction to RSE – Brook

  • Skills & Confidence in Relationships and Sex Education Training – Portsmouth’s Sexual Health service have training opportunities for secondary schools, to improve staff confidence in delivering quality RSE. To explore options for RSE training, contact the service directly via email: [email protected]
  • NSPCC Talk Relationships: delivering sex and relationships education training – free online training to support secondary school teachers and leaders to deliver inclusive sex and relationships education. Sex and relationships (RSE) training course | NSPCC Learning
  • Brook Free RSE courses – A range of free courses covering fundamental aspects of RSE, including puberty, consent, healthy relationships, pleasure, abortion and STIs. Online RSE courses on Brook Learn

Further support

Since the introduction of statutory PSHE in schools, parents have the right to request to withdraw their child from sex education delivered as part of RSE in secondary schools. This right should generally be granted up to three terms before their child turns 16. After that, if the child wishes to receive sex education, the school should make arrangements for this during one of the three terms before they turn 16.

There is no right to withdraw from Relationships Education at either primary or secondary school, as topics like family, friendship, and safety (including online safety) are vital for all children to learn.

Schools should invest considerable time in communicating effectively with parents, as this can improve understanding, strengthen relationships and may reduce concerns about teaching certain topics in PSHE. The Department for Education has published guidance on engaging parents with RSE.

We also recommend promoting resources that empower parents and carers in having supportive and informed conversations with their children.
BBC Bitesize have developed a ‘Parent Toolkit’ which includes age-and-stage appropriate resources to support parents through a wide range of subjects, many of which map strongly to the PSHE curriculum.

For support for a range of topics relating to children and young people aged 0-19, you can signpost parents to Healthier Together and Family Assist.

External providers can add valuable expertise to PSHE lessons. However, educators should take care when selecting providers, ensuring their content is accurate, appropriate, and aligns with statutory guidance.

Best practice guidance from the PSHE Association can be found here.

Key considerations when working with external providers:

  • Ensure they comply with statutory guidance, and the content is age appropriate.
  • Critically appraise providers to establish their agenda and motives, and review lesson plans beforehand.
  • Ensure teachers are present in the room when external providers deliver their sessions.

The National Governors’ Association (NGA), in partnership with the PSHE Association, has developed specific guidance for governing boards related to PSHE. They emphasise the crucial link between PSHE, safeguarding, and wellbeing in schools.

The national RSHE guidance outlines statutory requirements and provides recommendations for governing boards or management committees.

NGA members can access additional information on relationship education and RSE.

The Key for School Governors also provides guidance on how to:

Beyond the PSHE Association, there are many organisations creating reliable content which can be used in PSHE lessons. These can be found by joining the national PSHE network, which acts as a platform for sharing materials, responding to emerging issues, and asking questions. The knowledge hub can be accessed here.

Here are some examples of reliable sources of information:

Physical health

Mental health and wellbeing

Safeguarding

Sexual health

Drugs, alcohol, and tobacco

LGBTQ+

This list is not exhaustive. Educators should always critically assess the credibility of any information source before incorporating it into their lesson plans.

Some topics taught in PSHE can bring up difficult emotions and may relate strongly to trauma experienced by young people and teaching staff alike. It is important to deliver these sensitive topics with care, and in a way which promotes ‘trauma informed’ practice.

‘Trauma informed care’ is a term that is used to describe the practice of recognising the impact of trauma on a person’s mental and physical wellbeing. It is about acknowledging the negative impact that that traumatic experiences can have on a person’s ability to feel safe and build trusting relationships with the professionals who are caring for them.

For further information regarding trauma informed care, access the Health and Care Portsmouth website.

Couldn’t find the answer you were looking for?

For any queries related to PSHE delivery, please contact Portsmouth City Council’s Public Health team at [email protected].