Nov 15, 2024 | News & Events
Kerry Community Youth Service want to say a big thank you on National Charities Trustee Week.
KCYS would like to thank our amazing Trustees for their time, expertise and commitment. We have just completed a second highly successful round of Board recruitment in the past year.
Very soon, we will be welcoming some excellent new members to our Board. Exciting time ahead and we are in very good hands!!
Oct 11, 2024 | European Opportunities
Are you a young person aged 18–24 years living in Ireland and interested in sustainable travel? Take part in our Time to Move competition to find the greenest route from the Aran Islands to Brussels and be in with a chance to win a European Rail Travel Pass allowing you to travel for seven days around Europe by rail!
Eurodesk provides information on European opportunities for young people (13–30 years) such as volunteering, studying, working and travelling in Europe. In Ireland, Eurodesk is administered by Léargas and aims to empower young people and youth organisations to explore possibilities within Europe.
Each October, during our Europe-wide campaign Time to Move
https://timetomove.eurodesk.eu/, Eurodesk runs many activities to help young people discover how they can explore Europe.
To participate in our Time to Move competition, you will need to plan how you would get from Inishmore Ferry Terminal on the Aran Islands to Grand-Place in Brussels, home of the European Union, making sure you use the criteria below:
– Get there in 6 days or less
– Spend €400 or less on travel
– Use the GREENEST travel methods that you can (bike, electric bike, walk, ferry, bus, train).
*Bonus points will be given if you can include a travel option that provides accessibility options within your travel route, for example, limited or restricted mobility, additional visual or aural needs, sensory friendly travel needs.
Top tip: Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has additional needs while travelling.
Download your Travel Route Planner using the green button below to record and submit your proposed travel plan.
Sample Route Planner and Carbon Emissions Calculator. To help you get started, all applicants will use this
carbon emission calculator to find the greenest travel options. Please note that walking, bike, and electric bike emissions will be calculated as 0 for the purpose of this competition. View our sample Route Planner (
Link to Sample Planner) to get an idea of how to record your route.
Submit your entry to your local Eurodesk multiplier KDYS before 31 October 2024. This can be sent via email or postal mail;
Email: annemurphy@kcys.ie or shannonosullivan@kcys.ie
Terms and Conditions:
- Entrants should be between 18 and 24 years.
- Only one entry per person is permitted.
- Cost of the proposed travel route must be based on one person’s travel costs (excluding accommodation and board).
- Entries must include a link to the timetable for each leg of the journey, where possible, e.g. timetable for bus, ferry, train route.
- Entries with travel costs exceeding €400 won’t be accepted.
- Entries with a route that takes longer than 6 days to complete won’t be accepted.
- Entries with a travel route that does not use green means of transport – that is, walk, bike, bus, train, ferry – won’t be accepted.
- Entries will be judged based on a points system, where points are earned for the least amount of time taken, lowest travel cost, and/or greenest travel option.
- Bonus points will be awarded for accessible travel options, for example, wheelchair accessibility, restricted mobility travel service.
- Entries must be submitted before 31 October 2024 to local Eurodesk multipliers listed on Contact – Eurodesk Ireland, who will select local winners.
- Local winners will be put forward to the national competition, from which four national winners will be selected by Eurodesk Ireland/Léargas. Each national winner will receive a European Interrailing travel pass.
- Prizes cannot be exchanged for monetary value.
- In the event of several entries with the same final score, a draw will be made of these entries to randomly select the final winners.
More Info on the European Rail Travel Pass Prize
The Travel pass is called the Interrail Global Pass Youth 2nd Class and allows 7 travel days any time within 1 month of your start date. See below image for more details or visit
https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/global-pass and click on the 7 Days Pass for full details.
Check out the Interrail Railway Travel Map
here to see the rail routes covered by the Pass and which routes require reservations. Interrail Passes include access to a number of free and discounted European ferry routes and boats. You can find an overview of the major ferry lines that have a partnership with Interrail
here.
For further information or any questions, contact
(annemurphy@kcys.ie or shannonosullivan@kcys.ie ) or phone us on (087 7801575/ 085 8075996).
Best of luck to all entrants!
May 13, 2024 | News & Events
KDYS Youth Information delivers a ‘KDYS Transfer Programme’ to 6th class students across Kerry. The programme aims to support young people in their transition into secondary school.
KDYS have been delivering the KDYS Transfer Programmes to schools across the county for over 15 years and have impacted on more than 35 schools annually since 2021. The programme was researched and produced by KDYS youth workers, utilising both internal and external resources and was reviewed and updated in 2022 by the then 6th class students from several schools across the county. The programme is delivered in a fun, informative and interactive manner.
KDYS Transfer Programme is made up of four sessions delivered weekly using a workbook. . This workbook will remain with the student at the end of the programme. Each session focuses on a different aspect of secondary school. The programme aims to reduce anxiety associated with moving onto second level education. Young people are encouraged to ask questions, to identify their concerns and expectations. To get to know as much as they can about their new school prior to moving in September.
In 2024 KDYS Youth Information introduced a pilot peer education programme, to enable 4th year students to deliver the programme to 6th class students. The programme has been piloted in Castleisland and Killorglin. The Transition Year students in Castleisland Community College and Killorglin Community College have trained to deliver the KDYS Transfer Programme to three primary schools in Castleisland and one primary school in Killorglin.
This programme provides TY students with the opportunity to gain additional skills and to share their knowledge of life in secondary school with 6th class students. The 6th class students in turn get to build positive relationships with the TY students, providing them with a readymade support network when they move into secondary school in September.
For more information regarding the programme, do not hesitate to contact KDYS Youth Information: Anne on 087 7801575 or Shannon on 085 8075996.
annemurphy@kcys.ie or shannonosullivan@kcys.ie
Apr 5, 2024 | Health and Wellbeing
6 ways to stay safe on a night out
- Stay with your friends- If you are not able to find them and decide to go home, it is a good idea to order your taxi from inside the premises you are in and wait there until it arrives.
- Try and arrange a drive home and go with someone you know. Using a taxi app, such as FreeNow. This allows you to have full information on the driver, such as license and car type without having to take the information down yourself.
- Have emergency money- It is a good idea if you are on a night out to keep some money on you separate to your wallet or purse. By doing this it means that if your lose it or it gets stolen that you will still have some money to get a taxi home if you need to.
- Avoid taking drinks from a stranger- If you are on a night out avoid taking drinks from people you don’t know or leaving your drink unattended. If you want to dance or go to the bathroom, you should avoid leaving your drink alone. Where possible leave it with someone you trust or finish your drink before leaving the table.
- Charge your phone- Fully charge your phone before you go on a night out. Having a working phone means that you can call someone if something goes wrong. It also means that you can use it to book a taxi or call someone to come collect you. You should also try to have credit on your phone before you go out.
- If you decide to go home with someone- tell your friends, the address and their full name. Always use protection. If you are a female on contraception, it is important to use a condom to protect against STI’S.
All of this information is available on SpunOut
Apr 5, 2024 | Leisure, Sports/Travel
Road Safety for young adults is particularly important, due to lack of experience on the road. The Road Safety Authority in Ireland advocate for road safety for all road users. To learn more visit https://www.rsa.ie/road-safety
Key risk factors for young drivers- Carrying passengers- Research shows that peer pressure can encourage bad driving and result in drivers ‘showing off’ to their passengers and taking more risks. Newly qualified drivers with a car full of passengers of similar age are four times more likely to be in a fatal crash, compared with when driving alone. However, when carrying older adult passengers, young drivers are less likely to crash, indicating it is peer pressure rather than simply the presence of passengers that raises the risk.
Driving at night- Young drivers have a higher proportion of crashes in the evenings and early mornings. Driving at night also requires extreme care. Young drivers may be under the impression that because roads are quieter at night it is safer for them to speed or pay less attention. In fact, driving at night takes more care due to poorer visibility, and greater likelihood of drink drivers or drunk pedestrians on the roads.
Speeding- Young people often drive too fast because they underestimate the risks associated with speeding, and crashes occur because they do not have to react to a dangerous situation and control their vehicle to avoid a collision.
Drink and drug driving- Drivers in their 20s self-report as having the highest rate of driving when over the drink-drive limit of all age groups.
The consequences of drink and drug driving are extremely serious. People involved in a road traffic incident are more than just a number for the Road Safety Report, they are someone’s family, friend, colleague, or neighbour.
It takes at least one hour to process one standard drink. Visit Drink Aware for more information on what is a standard drink.
Mobile Phones
Despite this, evidence suggests young drivers are more likely than older drivers to use their mobile phones at the wheel: the RAC has found that around half of young people (aged 17-24) admit to using their mobile phone behind the wheel, the highest proportion of all age categories.
