Well-being and PSHE.

The subject 'Well-being' has replaced PSHE(Personal, Social and Health Education) at Wellington. Well-being is focused on flourishing and maximising our human resources, whereas much PSHE has often been focused on prevention of behaviours which affect a relatively small number of people, such as drug addiction, crime, teenage pregnancy, depression and so on. The emphasis therefore is upon an education in the kind of life one ought to lead, rather than telling young people what kind of life they should avoid leading.

That said, it would be reckless to fail to inform young people of the potential dangers that lie in the world outside and at Wellington there is a programme of health education which gives students the opportunity to learn how to avoid the types of behaviours that might cause problems for them in the future. This programme sits on top of what takes place in the well-being programme.

A complete overview of what our well-being programme involves can be found here.

The health education programme is as follows:

3rd Form:

• The HYPE peer education scheme on drug misuse. Taught by L6th students.
• Sex and relationships education, in house groups, led by staff from the Medical Centre.
• Alcohol awareness, in house groups, taught by the L6th.

From 4th to 6th Forms, there is also a programme of character education which addresses some of the key decisions our young people will face in their lives and looks at what strengths of character are needed to decide well, along with thinking about ways of building the necessary character strengths. More details can be found here.

4th Form:

• 'Thinking about drug use' talk in the Lent Term. This talk gives students some of the thinking skills required to make good decisions about drug use, including awareness of statistical norms of behaviour and managing risk.

5th Form:

• 6 week focus on relationships in the well-being programme, which includes a visit from the charity 'Explore', which gives the students a chance to interview a married couple about long term relationships. During this time, Alex Fryer, an expert in sex and relationships addresses the whole 5th Form about key issues affecting them.

L6th Form:

In the Lower 6th Form, there is no curriculum provision for well-being or PSHE as yet, but we have a programme of visiting speakers to talk about topics related to well-being:

• Nigel Revell tells his story of leaving a lucrative career in publishing to work with the Teenage Cancer Trust and the importance for young people of keeping a close eye on their physical health.
• Dr. Aric Sigman talks about the pitfalls of alcohol abuse and binge drinking.
• Peter Hall shares his experiences of beating drug addiction.
• Climber Ben Heason, tells his inspiring story of leading the first successful ascent of the Angel Falls in Venezuela.