A bench where sitting down means 'come and play with me' — built by the students themselves

The rule is simple, and every child at Dave McNeilly Public School in Fort McMurray, Alberta, now knows it: if you sit on the Buddy Bench, you are saying, without words, 'I'd like someone to play with.' Grade 5 and 6 students spent a whole year making the benches happen — a bracelet sale, a theme week, and help from parent volunteer Carla Scholz — and unveiled two of them on October 14. The idea travels from child to child: a classmate spots someone on the bench and knows exactly what to do. 'A buddy bench provides a place for students to sit when they would welcome someone to play with,' says vice principal Heather Redfurn. No child has to ask out loud.

SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: community action