< Previous© March 2018 The Meath Coaster30Coláiste na hInseDebatingColáiste na hInse students continue not only to make waves at a national level but to set the agenda. A tradition of díosporaíocht has formed in the short 10 years and CNI is ranked among the top schools in the country at both junior and senior level. The Coláiste's ability to 'mix it' with these schools will be seen once again in the coming weeks when sixth year Aoife Walker takes part in the final of the Leinster Schools' Debating Competition as the only representative from a public school. But this year's suc-cess doesn't end there. March will also see juniors Peter Phelan and Liam Walker take part in Quarter Finals of the Junior Debating Competition in UCD, while six more of our students have qualified for the Leinster Finals' Day of the National Mace Competition. Perhaps the highlight to come will be watching sixth year Medb Brereton Hurley take part in the National Final of the Soroptimist Public Speaking Competition out West in Ballina. We wish them all every continued success! Finally, we have an exciting debating oc-casion planned for May with a celebrity guest chair to celebrate our decade of suc-cess. For more details keep an eye on the school Twitter account and website - For now, I've been sworn to secrecy!New School App Available for Parents with School Calendar and EventsTextaparent is the site where we send texts home about important events including calendar updates. Now, we have built in the school calendar to the app which you can get through the link that was text sent yesterday or through GooglePlay or the Apple AppStore. It is a much easier way to keep up to date with school events.Under 14 Gaelic Football Team© March 2018 The Meath Coaster31Under 14 Gaelic Football Team Con-tinue to ImproveComhghairdeas to our Under 14 Foot-ball team who are showing fine promise. In their latest outing against Gormanston College the team showed true sportsman-ship and teamwork in an excellent display. The team know there is room for improve-ment as the season progresses. First Year Boys’ Soccer Team Reach League FinalColáiste na hInse’s First Year Soccer team have reached the North-East League final following a rollicking 6-4 victory against De la Salle Dundalk in the semi-final at the MDL in Navan. The team are unbeaten thus far this season, and continue to gel and gather momentum. The final will be played at Ori-el Park in March against either Marist College, Dundalk or local rivals St. Mary’s, who the team narrowly beat earlier this season.Pella BlitzSports Council dáltaí from Idirbliain worked in support with Niall Kane from St. Colmcille’s GAA club in organising a Pella tournament for First and Second Class students from Scoil Oilbhéir Naofa. Pella is an indoor Gaelic Football game that can be played in sports halls, and it has been growing in popular-ity in recent years. Thank you very much to Niall Kane and St. Colmcille’s for their help, and congratulations to the múinte-oirí and dáltaí involved for organising a successful and enjoyable tournament.Rang Cunningham Raise €260 for Down Syndrome Louth MeathRang Cunningham in second year held a bake sale on February 22nd. The class agreed that all funds raised would be donated to the Down Syndrome Louth Meath charity. At the time of going to print, the class had al-ready raised over €260, with funds still coming in. Well done to Rang Cunningham on an out-standing achievement. §CNI First Year Soccer Team Reached the League FinalRang Cunningham Bake Sale and T-Shirt© March 2018 The Meath Coaster32One in four Irish workers worry regu-larly about loss of earnings due to ill-ness or injury.How would you pay your mortgage and bills should your income stop?Being unable to work and provide for their families due to illness, injury or death is a significant worry for Irish work-ers. Over a third worry about it at least once a month, while 13% said it was on their minds on a daily basis. Despite this anxiety, we are more likely to insure our pets and our gadgets than we are to insure our ability to earn a living. That’s accord-ing to research recently carried out by Red C on behalf of Aviva.Only 6% of respondents said they held In-come Protection insurance, even though, overall 85% admitted they worry about the prospect of illness or injury prevent-ing them from providing for their family. More than three in five said they were concerned about mental illness keeping them out of work.Asked how they would manage in the event of being unable to work due to ill-ness, injury, or death the vast majority (62%) said they would rely on social wel-fare. Yet half of all respondents had no idea how much they would be entitled to if they were unable to work and only 17% could quote the exact amount of the state disability benefit, which currently stands at €230.31 a week. One in four said they would rely on their savings in the event of ill-health: the survey found that aver-age annual household savings amount to under €6,000.Researchers also found that almost a quar-ter (22%) of Irish adults have experienced a significant loss of income due to illness, injury or death of a main breadwinner. A third of those affected by such a loss got into debt and another third had to move out of their homes.Among the minority who have Income Protection insurance, almost 70% bought it themselves, either through a financial broker or directly from an insurance com-pany. Just a quarter said their insurance was provided by their employer.Life Insurance pays out a fixed amount, so it's the ideal way to help give your fam-ily a financial safety net if the worst were to happen.Income Protection Insurance is there for you when your income isn’t. It can help safeguard your lifestyle by providing you with a monthly income, should you be un-able to work for a period of time, due to illness or injury.Have questions? Contact Oran on 087 668 6624 if you have any queries on this topic or visit www.drumgoolebrokerage.ie for more information. §Drumgoole Financial Services is regulated by The Central Bank of Irelandoran@drumgoolebrokerage.iewww.drumgoolebrokerage.ie© March 2018 The Meath Coaster33Were Your Mock Exams Difficult? Are You Stressed? Were results disappointing? Maybe you could not focus, concentrate, or your memory recall went blank. Perhaps you misunderstood the questions. You were told to Study More, Learn More and abandon your Social Life. Wrong Your Results were disappointing because you're stressed and worried NOT be-cause you need to study more. Stress is the response of the body to demands. These demands, (stressors) are stimuli that lead to many responses. Stressors for students include: Academic requirements and de-mands of studies (assignment deadlines and increasing workload) Ineffective cop-ing skills. Lack of time for interpersonal friendships and social time Stress not managed properly, prevents stu-dents successfully achieving their academ-ic goals. Students need to balance school work with extracurricular activities and social fun. Studying more increases their stress. The American Institute of Stress states that "Stress affects physical and mental functioning" and this is what affects the quality of Students exam results. Over many years helping Students achieve Exam Success here are their answers to what caused the MOST stress as a student? Academic requirements - Peer Pressure - Pressure of Study time - Reduced Extracur-ricular Activities - Worry and Fear of Failing. Stress Affects Academic Performance Physical Symptoms include Frequent Headaches. Neck and back pains. Nervous habits (fidgeting) Upset Stomach. Chest Pains. Sleep issues Students suffering stress become mentally disorganized leading to the inability to fo-cus, concentrate, retain information and manage their study time. Concentration Difficulties Stress reduces students' ability to concen-trate creating difficulties in memorising facts for exams. Poor concentration limits students' ability to think at optimal levels leading to weak responses on exams Memory Problems Memory is vital to academic success. Forgetfulness is another symptom of be-ing stressed. Adversely affecting students' quality to recall necessary details to answer questions, leading to poor exam results Constant Worry Persistent worry and restlessness (maybe unconsciously) makes the focus of impor-tant tasks to be completed for revision and study difficult Some suffer sleep difficul-ties and consequently, the answers given are mediocre and they end up failing Self Defeating Thoughts Causes students to focus on their failures /weaknesses, resulting in lack of confidence in their abilities hinders performing to their highest potential and succeed in exams.Social Withdrawal Students get overwhelmed and lack of nurturing friendships affects their mental health leading to reduced productivity in their work, and poor exam marks. They NEED social time Ways to Manage Stress Develop a balanced lifestyle of study school and social. Therapy teaches you how to Focus and Concentrate during Study and Revision. Strategies to Improve memory retention and Memory Recall at exams are taught. You learn Stress Release Techniques thus building confidence for the results you want. I can help you in just 2 hours Call me To-day on 085 8126677. I believe in you. Bernice Mc Kenna (Adv.Psych. MICHP) Psychotherapist §© March 2018 The Meath Coaster34the Drogheda, East Meath and Louth re-gion ahead of the start of Cathay Pacific direct flights to Dublin in June. The evening was a lavish affair with the Lord Mayor of Drogheda, Pio Smith, many councillors and local business peo-ple in attendance. “It has been a privilege to collaborate with Fáilte Ireland and become one of the first hotels in Ireland to be officially China Ready.” said Mr Cyril Laffan, Gen-eral Manager for the CityNorth Hotel, he also commented that “The hotel has un-Celebrating Chinese New Year At Citynorth Hotel Year of the DogThe CityNorth Hotel celebrated Chi-nese New Year – Year of the dog, with a “China Red” reception on Wednesday 14th February.Madame Xue He, Commercial Counsel-lor at the Chinese Embassy, launched the celebrations and spoke about the potential for increased trade between Ireland and China with over 70,000 Chinese visitors to Ireland last year. This is great news for © March 2018 The Meath Coaster35menus which can be scanned to translate the menu into Chinese and we are work-ing with Emerald Media to setup social media platform, WeChat and various mar-keting campaigns.” §dertaken several measures to be culturally welcoming to our Chinese guests. For ex-ample, our staff have been trained, we’ve adopted Union Pay as a method of pay-ment, QR Codes have been added to our © March 2018 The Meath Coaster36Please mention The Meath Coaster when replying to advertisementsCMYCMMYCYCMYKFleadh Cheoil Na hÉireann, Drogheda 2018, Open up your house for the FleadhCampaign for Private Rented Accom-modation-From Sunday 12th to Sunday 19th of Au-gust 2018 the Town of Drogheda will play host to the world’s biggest festival of Irish Music, Song and Dance, Fleadh Cheoil Na hÉireann. The numbers at-tending this week-long event have been increasing year on year from its meagre beginnings in Mullingar in 1951 to a stag-gering record of 450,000 in Ennis last year. Drogheda has the potential to break this record in 2018 and the question is being asked where will these people stay? Pa-draic Kierans, a member of the Fleadh Executive Committee stated, “We expect a lot of day trippers from Dublin and Bel-fast, but we will also fill the hotels not only in the town but as far afield as North Dublin, Navan and Dundalk.” “There is a tradition of camping at the Fleadh and we will be setting up a fully serviced campground in Drogheda which will match or exceed the excellent camp-ing facilities provided in Ennis for 2017” confirmed Eddie Phelan, Chair of the Ac-commodation Committee.But the most important accommoda-tion provision for the visiting musicians, singers and dancers, and their families is private rented accommodation. From very early Fleadhs in Listowel the local community have opened their doors to the visitors from near and far. This has grown to a major logistical challenge to provide the 400-500 houses or rooms in houses needed. In Ennis the 2017 Fleadh needed 400 houses and weekly rental varied from €750 to €950 depending on the size and location of the house, in addition many people rented out one or more rooms in their house to the visitors.Lolo Robinson, Chairperson of Drogheda Comhaltas outlined the process, “people in the host town who are interested in renting their room or house register with the accommodation committee. After a quick assessment the property is included on a list on the Fleadh website and the vis-itor will either make direct contact with the owner from the list or make contact through the accommodation committee. We already have lots of queries from all over the world and are confident that Flea-dh Cheoil Na hÉireann 2018 is going to be a fantastic event”.To register your interest in letting out all or part of your property for the week of the Fleadh in August 2018 you can, con-tact the accommodation committee e-mail drogheda.acc2018@gmail.com or download the form through the Fleadh Facebook page or Drogheda Comhaltas website or pick up a copy of the form in Drogheda’s shopping centres and partici-pating shops. The completed form can be returned by e-mail to drogheda.acc2018@gmail.com. by post to 13 Ashdale, Wheaton Hall, Drogheda or drop it into the recep-tion of the Westcourt Hotel, West Street, Drogheda. §Please mention The Meath Coaster when replying to advertisementsNext >