“Be Kind / Bí Cineálta” Child Friendly Policy Poster
Created by Children, for Children
In September, the children made an initial “Bí Cineálta” poster. More recently, the Student Council and pupils from across the school created a new, child-friendly “Be Kind / Bí Cineálta” poster—designed by children for children to promote anti-bullying and inclusion.
The process began with a series of student-led brainstorming sessions. Children from different class levels met with Mr Molloy to discuss what “being kind” means in everyday school life and how the school community could work together to reject racism, bullying, and exclusion. During these discussions, Ms Roz, our school principal, addressed the group and spoke about the importance of their leadership in shaping a respectful and inclusive school environment. Her message empowered the children to think critically and creatively about the themes they wanted to include in the poster.
From these sessions, the idea of using a jigsaw puzzle format emerged. The children liked the idea that each jigsaw piece could represent an important value or behaviour and that when all the pieces were brought together, they would form a complete picture—just like how every student, regardless of background, is an important part of the school community.
The values the children identified and placed on the jigsaw pieces include:
- Inclusion
- Always Tell / Speak up/ Trust
- Listening
- Say No to Rumours
- Empathy
- Stand Up to Bullying
- Understanding
- No to Cyberbullying
Each of these words or phrases was discussed by the students and agreed upon as central to fostering a kind, safe, and fair school for everyone.
In the centre of the jigsaw, one space was intentionally left blank to allow for a striking visual centrepiece. Into this space, Mr Molloy designed and illustrated an image of children from St Joseph’s NS, depicted in their red school uniforms, representing a wide range of cultural and religious backgrounds. The children are shown celebrating and standing together around the St Joseph’s school crest, reinforcing the core message of unity, identity, and belonging.
The final poster is more than a decorative display. It is our it is our Bí Cineálta policy in action by children for children. It is now being used as a classroom resource throughout the school. It acts as a visual tool for discussion and education around anti-racism, anti-bullying, and inclusion. Teachers use the poster as a starting point for circle time, oral language activities, SPHE lessons, and classroom agreements. Its design ensures that the language and ideas are child-friendly and understandable, helping students to identify the behaviours and values that support a safe and respectful school environment.
Additionally, as part of our Oral Language work under the Yellow Flag Programme, each of the key values on the “Be Kind / Bí Cineálta” poster—such as Inclusion, Empathy, Listening, Trust, and No to Cyberbullying were translated into a range of languages spoken by pupils and families in our school community. These languages included (but were not limited to) Ukranian, Polish, Arabic, Lithuanian, Estonian and Romanian.
This multilingual approach ensured that the messages on the poster could be recognised and understood by all students, regardless of their home language. Teachers incorporated these translations into oral language lessons, helping children learn how to say and understand each value in multiple languages, while also encouraging pride in linguistic diversity. This step reinforced the Yellow Flag commitment to inclusion and helped validate the cultural and linguistic identities of all pupils in a practical and respectful way.
