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Background: Persistent pain is a common condition affecting one in four UK adults. Public understanding of pain is limited. Delivering pain education within schools may improve public understanding in the longer term., Objective: To evaluate the impact of a one-day Pain Science Education (PSE) event on sixth form/high school students' pain beliefs, knowledge and behavioural intention., Methods: Exploratory, single-site, mixed-methods, single-arm study involving secondary school students ≥16 years old attending a one-day PSE event. Outcome measures included the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (PBQ), Concepts of Pain Inventory (COPI-ADULT), a vignette to assess pain behaviours; and thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews., Results: Ninety (mean age 16.5 years, 74% female) of the 114 attendees, agreed to participate in the evaluation. PBQ scores improved on the Organic beliefs subscale [mean difference -5.9 (95% CI -6.8, -5.0), P < 0.01] and Psychosocial Beliefs subscale [1.6 (1.0, 2.2) P < 0.01]. The COPI-Adult revealed an improvement [7.1 (6.0-8.1) points, P < 0.01] between baseline and post intervention. Pain behavioural intentions improved post education for work, exercise, and bed rest related activities (p < 0.05). Thematic analysis of interviews (n = 3) identified increased awareness of chronic pain and its underpinning biology, beliefs that pain education should be widely available, and that pain management should be holistic., Conclusions: A one-day PSE public health event can improve pain beliefs, knowledge and behavioural intentions in high school students and increase openness to holistic management. Future controlled studies are needed to confirm these results and investigate potential long-term impacts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest JM is a community pain champion for the Flippin Pain™ campaign which is run by Connect Health Ltd. JM has received no personal income for this role. CGR is a named inventor on a patent for a sensory discrimination training based medical device which could be used in the management of persistent pain conditions. He is also the community pain champion for the Flippin Pain™ campaign which is run by Connect Health Ltd. The consultancy fees for this role go directly to Teesside University, CGR receives no personal income for this role. He has received research funding from a number of commercial and non-commercial bodies including: NIHR, Innovate UK, Medtronics Ltd., MediDirect Ltd., 2PD Ltd., The Higher Education Academy, and The Health Foundation. Professional, corporate, and scientific bodies have reimbursed him for expenses related to presentation of research on pain and rehabilitation at conferences/symposia. He has received speaker fees for presentations on pain and rehabilitation. SS is supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC) (NIHR200173). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or Department of Health and Social Care. JWP has received speaker fees for presentations on pain and rehabilitation. He receives royalties for books on pain education. DR has received speaker fees for presentations on pain and Long Covid by professional bodies, commercial partners and pharmaceutical companies. He receives royalties for his book on pain management. He has received research funding from the Health Innovation Partnership, University of Reading., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)