RIC Times 2013

2013 | 01634 828115

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THE RIC TIMES A co-educational day and boarding school | Year 7 to sixth form

Accelerated academics One year courses

Aiming higher Russell group and red bricks

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Accredited by the Independent Schools Council

Non-uniform education 1st choice at 11+

Switch for success Year 13 transfers

Free range school RIC gastro garden

Your Route to a Top University “Retaking at Rochester has helped to raise my ambition and realise my potential – my previous school told me I would never get into a Russell Group university.” Maddie Russell, RIC 2013 student

It’s always a shock not to receive the results you wanted but it can often be the start of a journey that leads to even higher grades and better university places than those originally hoped for. With the ending of January exams there are still options at RIC that will allow you to achieve the grades you need and still combine this with work experience or gap year adventures. In 2013 nearly 70% of all our A level entries were graded A* to B. 2013 retake student Maddie Russell says: “Last year I had CCB and I only made my insurance offer - Manchester Met. I actually went for one week but felt disappointed

because I knew I could have done better.”

As well as retaking English and Geography Maddie took two complete A levels from scratch in Sociology and World Development. Combining retakes with intensive one year A levels is an effective way of ensuring the good universities are impressed - and making a retake year more interesting. Maddie got five Russell group offers this year and secured a place at her first choice - Exeter for Geography.

Exeter is the top choice for RIC’s 2013 retakers. Angus Henderson from King’s School Canterbury, Jasper Sawyers from

Cranbrook School and Jonathan Carrington from Fulston Manor, Sittingbourne all have places at The Sunday Times’ University of the Year. Abigail Pile and Martha McGuinness both from Tonbridge Grammar, successfully retook their A levels at RIC, winning undergraduate spots at Durham for Archaeology and Leeds for Maths and Management respectively.

Efosa Osaghae says: “Last year my grades were low because I was lazy. When I got my results I knew I needed to retake but wanted to home study using notes from school. My parents stepped in as they knew it would not

work. Smaller classes at RIC make it more personal and you get a lot of support. I have pushed myself to work hard, the significant factor is that my Dad’s paying for it. I want to do the best I can.”

Efosa last year had a place at Bolton University. After retakes at RIC he is now off to study Film at King’s College, London, ranked first in the UK for the subject.

Special congratulations go to Georgia Burt from Maidstone who joined RIC with no GCSEs two years ago and now has ABB at A level and a place at Sussex to study History.

RIC + Maths + Physics = Oxbridge Off to study Physics in 2013 at Oxford University is Tal Henke who joined RIC as an A level boarding student from Monmouth Comprehensive School and went on to gain an A* in Physics, an A* in Maths, an A in Further Maths and an A in German.

Tal’s achievement in securing an Oxford place is even more impressive as he joined with a relatively modest GCSE background.

His results would not have been good enough for a place at some of Kent’s super selective grammars.

As Cambridge say: “Post-16 exam performance is a much better predictor of degree success. Strong performance in

Years 12 and 13 can make up for less stellar performance at GCSE.” Tal spent his gap year teaching Maths in Tanzania and says of his time at RIC: “I enjoyed the nature of study at A level much more than at GCSE. I was particularly inspired by the style of teaching because it was very challenging and concept rich. I learnt not just how to answer questions, but to actually understand what the question was asking. I also learnt self-discipline and to organise myself. I enjoyed the international feel of the College, experiencing other cultures, the intensive accumulation of knowledge, breakfast on the weekend and the lovely staff.”

“I was so impressed with the classes and teaching I saw and came away with a very positive view of the College, its ethos and aspirations.” Peter Read, Kent Independent Education Advice

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University Destinations 2013 of Rochester Independent College students, updated 19/8/13

A First Choice 11+ Alternative Kent has the UK’s most grammar schools and their presence shapes the educational experiences of both the children who win places at them and those who don’t. It’s even reported that Tonbridge’s elite Judd School is considering following St Olave’s and introducing its own entrance exam to help differentiate between 11+ candidates in a way it feels the Kent test doesn’t.

RIC is a completely academically non-selective school but attracts students from all over the county, including those who have under performed at or are looking for an alternative to the selective local grammar and independent schools.

While some stay in the independent sector from prep to sixth form it is now common for savvy students to go private at key points in their education. Such moves can allow for improved grade and university entry prospects. From Year 7 upwards we offer an encouraging environment where all can aim high academically whether they have passed the 11+ or not.

Entry to selective school sixth forms depends upon GCSE grades. At RIC though we find GCSE results are not the best predictor of sixth form success and offer a more flexible approach. We do not have minimum GCSE grade requirements for starting A levels in particular subjects. It is not unusual for students joining us from other schools to start a two-year A level programme while resitting key GCSEs. One bad year doesn’t have to mean the end of higher education dreams.

“Each year students gain entrance to many top universities, pursuing courses from veterinary science to criminology!

RIC provides an ideal environment for the smooth transition to higher education – it really is a ‘university for children.” ME19 Mag

Need an alternative non-selective year 7 option for Sept 2013 or 2014?

Call or visit us to learn about the school with the smallest class sizes in Kent.

Full Name

Previous School

Destination University University Course

Abigail Pile Ade Adebowale Alasdair Heselgrave Alexander Goodlad Alexander Halpern Alexander Taylor Amrit Dhillon Angus Henderson Aran Gibbs Benedict Keeble Cameron Faribra Cecelia Johnson Charles Piper Charlie Comet Christina Ostend Efosa Osaghae Elizabeth Royce Emily Mann Evangeline Scott-Clark Freddie Ogilvie Georgia-Rose Burt Georgina Lonergan Ginte Barzdaityte Haiqin Zhang Hannah Baynes Harinder Bains Harnish Kaur Dhami Harry Neilson James Bristow James Evans Jason Fregene Jasper Sawyers Jobe Chan John Weightman Jonathan Carrington Joseph Molloy Joseph Winstone Joshua Grigor Katy Piper Kla Karava Laria Collister Laurence Fletcher Lily Willard Lucy Spence Luke Philpot Lydia Sodhi Madelaine Russell Martha McGuinness Matthew Ball Matthew Cammish Matthew Collinge Matthew Oakley Max Watkins Naomi Smith Nisha Krishan Oliver Goodwin Parinya Udommai Pawita Boonrat Poon Thongsai Puthipong Worasaran Rory Mawdsley Rosa Niewiara Samiuallah Quadri Samuel Bridgford Samuel Olowe Saowalak Changko Sean Quinn Spencer Garrett Sunil Cheema Supanut Thanasilp Tal Henke Thomas Lungu Tom Wynn Owen Tossapol Pomsuwan Tyler Bentley Victoria Ward Xiaoqi Zhang Zena Igbe

Tonbridge Grammar Durham University Archaeology/Ancient Civ Caleb British Academy Uni of Kent at Canterbury Law King’s Rochester University of Reading English Lit & Int Relations Abbey, Manchester Sheffield Hallam Aerospace Engineering King’s Rochester Queen Mary, London English Literature Millfield School University of Kent Psychology Northfleet School for Boys University of Leicester Computer Science King’s School, Canterbury University of Exeter Film Studies Valley Park, Maidstone Ravensbourne Music Production for Media Judd School University of Reading Business Economics St Gregory’s Cath Comp Uni of Hertforshire Environmental Management Home Educated Central Saint Martins Foundation, Art & Design Epsom College University of Sheffield Psychology Cranbrook School Newcastle University Chemical Engineering Forest School,Walthamstow University of Surrey Sociology West Hatch School, Essex King’s College, London Film Studies King’s School, Canterbury University of Bristol Veterinary Science Stokesley School, N. Yorks Royal Veterinary College Veterinary Medicine Weald of Kent Grammar St Mary’s University College Primary Education Felsted School Swansea University War & Society Maidstone Girls Grammar University of Sussex History St Gregory’s Cath Comp Oxford Brookes University History/Sociology Steiner School, Vilnius The Slade, UCL Fine Art Padworth College Swansea Metropolitan Illustration St Hilda’s School, Westcliff University of Surrey Sociology Gravesend Grammar City University London Economics & Accountancy Clarendon House Aston University Engineering & Appl Science Maidstone Grammar Leeds University Philosophy Wickham Court School London Met Film School Film Skinners School Swansea University Economics Howard School, Rainham Canterbury Christ Church Marketing with Management Cranbrook School University of Exeter Geography Alliance School, HK University of Portsmouth Law with Business Bishop Challoner School University of Kent Social Anthropology Fulston Manor University of Exeter Biology Skinners School University of Southampton Biomedical Sciences Gravesend Grammar University of Portsmouth Television & Film Production Tunbridge Wells Grammar UWE Sports Management Chatham Girls Grammar Myerscough College Welfare of Animals Thai Government Scholar University of Cambridge Natural Sciences King’s School, Canterbury UWE Bioveterinary Science Maidstone Grammar University of Leicester Physics Strood Academy Canterbury Christ Church Digital Media & Film Mayfield School University of Manchester Classical Studies Skinners School Cardiff University Business Information Systems Rochester Grammar Keele University Medicine Mayfield School University of Exeter Geography Tonbridge Grammar University of Leeds Management & Mathematics St Gregory’s Cath Comp Sheffield University Economics Tunbridge Wells Grammar Uni of British Columbia Economics St Gregory’s Cath Comp University of Sussex Geography Wilmington Grammar Uni of Wolverhampton Film Studies Gads Hill Oxford Brookes Uni Real Estate Management Rochester Grammar Anglia Ruskin Univesity Midwifery Chatham Grammar Robert Gordon University Pharmacy Cranbrook School University of Liverpool Business Economics Thai Government Scholar University of Manchester Physics Thai Government Scholar University of Manchester Physics Thai Government Scholar Imperial College London Mathematics Thai Government Scholar University of Cambridge Natural Sciences Judd School University of Leeds Civil & Structural Engineering Stanmore College University of Northampton Fashion Marketing Merton College University of Greenwich Politics & Intnl Relations Simon Langton Grammar Bath Spa University Commercial Music AVI CENNA Int, Nigeria Aston University Accounting Thai Government Scholar University of York Biology Maidstone Grammar Loughborough University Sports Technology Bethany School Southampton University Geography Gravesend Grammar City University London Computer Science Thai Government Scholar Imperial College London Physics Monmouth School University of Oxford Physics Mpelembe School, Zambia University of Brighton Economics Judd School The Slade, UCL Fine Art Thai Government Scholar Imperial College London Computing Valley Park University of Brighton Film & Screen Studies Highstead Grammar Brunel Unversity Mechanical Engineering Lekai School, China Anglia Ruskin University Human Resource Management St Marys 6th Form College Sheffield Hallam Uni Law

RIC’s annual Music, Drama and Art festival is Star Hill’s best party of the year

“The RIC ethos was ideal for Tom - he has so grown in confidence. Thank you for helping him get to Imperial and for being a school that doesn’t conform to traditional structures but embraces young people whoever they are.” Year 13 parent

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The New Doctors New doctors are in the news and RIC sends special congratulations to aspiring medic Lydia Sohdi who has just accepted a place to study Medicine at Keele University. There were over 2,000 applications for 130 places on this programme. Lydia joined RIC from Rochester Grammar School for her Year 13 and as well as finishing off her A levels in the Sciences she picked up an A* in English Literature from scratch in a year.

Off to train as vets are Elizabeth Royce who after a one year intensive course in

Chemistry has a place at Bristol University and Emily Mann who, demonstrating that it can be worth not compromising in Clearing and retaking A levels, has won a place at the Royal Veterinary College.

Many RIC tutors combine teaching with further academic study. Celebrating the completion of his doctorate in 2013 is RIC Film, Media and Sociology teacher and Head of Year 13 Todd Dedman. Todd’s PhD explores the cultural effects of hip hop and grime music on contemporary youth culture.

Retake for a Clear Round Journalist and contrarian Charlie Brooker writing about disappointing exam results recently pointed out that “your grades are not your destiny: they’re just letters and numbers which rate how well you performed in one artificial arena, once.”

RIC Slade Diptych level programme. His success is even more extraordinary as he was offered a place on the degree course straight from sixth form without the normal requirement to complete a foundation year first.

Tom says he chose RIC as it was “The only place that would let me do all the subjects I wanted and did not make me wear a suit.

I have met the most exciting people here.”

Asked what his favourite things about being at the College were Tom said: “RIC has helped me to learn a lot in subjects I really enjoy with awesome teachers I get on with. A very good atmosphere and lot of help available. Good trips, cool plays in London and the art trip to Paris was excellent.” Tom took A levels in Philosophy, History of Art, Music Technology, Fine Art and Photography.

Laria Collister from Stockbury demonstrated that it can sometimes pay not to accept your first time grades and to retake. She says: “My A levels last year were disastrous and I thought there was no hope. I was in tears when I came for interview at RIC but decided to give it another shot. I do struggle a little with memory recall and the teachers at RIC gave me the confidence to overcome this. The emphasis is on examination technique. I would have been happy with 3Cs this year so ABB is amazing.

I’m going to UWE’s Hartbury College for Bio-Veterinary Science” Hartbury College is one of the UK’s centres of excellence for equine studies, develops riders to the highest levels of competition and hosts an annual festival of dressage.

Keen eventer Laria, whose aim is to compete in the Rio 2016 Olympics, gets to take her home bred mare Holly with her to College.

Sixth form multiple choice “If you decide not to choose some subjects at A level many degrees at competitive universities will not be open to you” The Russell Group Confused about which A levels to opt for in Year 12? Call or visit RIC for informed advice about 6th form choices

Switching Schools and Retakes at a Glance • • • • • • • • • • • •

Two year A level courses One year, short & part time retake courses Transfer for Year 13 or restart Year 12 One Year GCSE courses. Repeat Year 11 or transfer after Year 10 elsewhere All boards. No subject combination restrictions No minimum GCSE grades required 2012 Good Schools Guide Award Winner Top 5 University placements 2005-12: Leeds, Nottingham, Sussex, Cambridge, Imperial Regular Medicine, Dentistry & Veterinary Science university placements Average Class Size 8 • No uniform Minibus services from Maidstone, Kings Hill Sevenoaks, Otford and Tunbridge Wells Situated opposite Rochester Station

Missed your crucial GCSE grades?

Call or visit RIC to learn about our intensive retake courses or combining these with starting A levels

Cambridge All Stars Two RIC students have won places on one of the world’s most prestigious Fine Art degree programmes at UCL’s The Slade School of Fine Art. The Slade has spawned a number of well known artists including Wyndham Lewis, Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer, Rachel Whiteread and film maker Derek Jarman.

Ginte Barzdaityte starts the course after completing her foundation at Central Saint Martins. Tom Wynn Owen from Tonbridge who will be joining her at UCL’s Gower Street quad did his GCSEs at the Judd School before opting for an RIC two year A

RIC’s two top performing students in 2013 are both Royal Thai Government Scholars.

Kla Karava and Puthipong Worasaran both netted 4 A* grades in one year of study and have places at Trinity College, Cambridge for Natural Sciences where generations of princes, spies, poets and prime ministers have studied.

Students at private schools are three times more likely to score top A level grades, which in turn leads to a better university. RIC offer small classes, structured tutorial support, regular testing and high quality UCAS advice.

The Independent Schools Council says: “Parents choose independent sixth forms because their pupils achieve outstanding results at A level and we have seen nothing to suggest the picture is changing.”

Lily Willard joined RIC in year 10 from Strood Academy and says: “I’d never have got ABB if I’d have stayed at my old school. My personal tutor, Todd, helped me through my UCAS application brilliantly and I’m going to Canterbury Christ Church to study Digital Media and Film.”

“Thank you for your superb guidance with the Law application, unfailing kindness, patience and brilliant teaching. RIC taught him to think properly, to write clearly and fulfilled every promise made to us.” Year 13 parent

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RIC Gallery

Brooke Ellis, AS Photography, Year 12

Gabby Norris, A2 Photography, Year 13

Tom Wynn Owen, A2 Fine Art, Year 13

Max De-laurey, GCSE Graphics, Year 11

Molly McGee, GCSE Textiles, Year 11

Katy Gee, AS Photography, Year 12

Cecelia Johnson, A2 Fine Art, Year 13

Chekhov and Wilde Play RIC RIC has historically hosted live theatre events with internationally acclaimed performers Ridiculusmus and Guy Masterson being amongst those to have entertained staff and students on Star Hill.

Theatre will be coming back to the College next year in our dedicated underground space as part of a new collaboration with the European Arts Company, a national and international touring theatre company based at the Hazlitt Arts Centre in Maidstone. In the autumn, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ will be performed on site, fresh from a tour of Italy.

Next Spring, RIC will host a production of ‘Chekhov’s Shorts’ - a collection of 5 comic vignettes which has toured over Europe to great success and features Jennifer Bryden who is currently playing the lead in ‘The 39

Steps’ at the Criterion Theatre in the West End. The company will also be running workshops and offering RIC students the opportunity to gain work experience on productions, helping out with props, costume, scenery, marketing, publicity and logistics.

Leading Drama and Theatre Studies at the College is Deborah Postgate. As well as overseeing Drama at GCSE and A level Deborah also runs LAMDA classes for students interested in gaining speech and drama grades during their time with us and, along with the English department, organises an extensive programme of theatre trips to productions both locally and in nearby London. Highlights from last year included multiple Olivier Award winning ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time’, and

Daniel Radcliffe starring in the AS English text RIC chose for coursework ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan.’

Already booked for 2013-14 are Steven Berkoff at The Gulbenkian in Canterbury and Theatre O’s adaptation of Conrad’s ‘The Secret Agent’ at The Young Vic. Working with Deborah in the Drama department is University of California graduate and former professional actor Anita McCann. Anita worked at the National Theatre in London, at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Fringe and in the USA (Stinston Beach Shakespeare Festival).

GCSE students will be treated this year to a trip to see an electrifying National Youth

Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet. Set against a backdrop of iconic Ska Mania and New Wave sounds of the early 80s, award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti has adapted Shakespeare’s play.

RIC students are a creative bunch. This year saw Tom Cowdrey make his Hazlitt Theatre debut and Millie Harris from Sevenoaks become the TV commercial face of Aero chocolate and Marks and Spencer’s summer picnics! RIC also sends warm congratulations to alumni Joe Pasquale Jnr, aka Hollyoaks star Joe Tracini. Joe was nominated for Best Comedy Performance at the British Soap Awards in 2012. While at RIC Joe picked up an A in GCSE Drama before heading to Italia Conti and was the regular host of our talent nights.

“It was clear from the moment we walked in staff really ‘get’ teenagers. The excellence of what you are doing - and the integrity, passion and good humour with which you’re doing it convinced us it was the right place.” Year 12 parent

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Luke Philpot, A2 Photography, Year 13

Oliver Page, GCSE Fine Art, Year 11

Harry Taylor, AS Graphic Design, Year 12

James Bristow, GCSE Photography, Year 11

Georgia Burt, A2 Fine Art, Year 13

Hollie Hambilton, AS Photography, Year 12

Adebola Aderibigbe, GCSE Fine Art, Year 11

Storming the Kent Music Scene ‘Silence Remains’ is a local melodic hardcore band featuring sixth formers Harry Taylor, Rob Turvey, John Weightman and Theo Halpern. Their acclaimed EP Milestones was released in July. After their headline gig at the Tunbridge Wells Forum Theo, who has been at RIC since Year 7, was described by a reviewer as “one of Kent’s leading frontmen” and the band are tipped to be signed by a major label.

Music teaching at the College, both traditional and popular is developing fast under Head of Music Alex James. Alex is a musician, composer and musicologist who has performed with a wide range of popular, improvising and experimental artists, including The Cinematic Orchestra and Eddie Prevost. RIC alumni often keep in

touch to let us know how their post College lives are progressing. Harry Japp took both Music and Music Technology with Alex as one year courses after his first set of A levels at The Perse School, Cambridge. He’s let us know that he’s graduated with a starry first from Leeds College of Music, is spending next year as President of the student union there, is in the final stages of producing an EP and is continuing to develop his portfolio as a composer for new media.

RIC at the Movies

RIC was proud this year to host the premiere of the first film produced, directed and starring a group of our A level students.

Filmed on location in the local area ‘Fragile Society’ is a bleakly dystopian vision of the future. The facebook page and twitter feeds for the release demonstrate how the talented team of cinerats are as adept at viral marketeering and industry style promotional strategy as they are at film making itself!

“My family call RIC ‘the school of the future’! We all wear our own clothes, call the teachers by their first names and we don’t always work out of text books. If I put my hand up in class and get it wrong I don’t feel silly.” Year 7 student

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RIC’s Team of Teacher Examiners what students need to learn and enables me and my colleagues in the department assist students to hone their skills for literary study.

It instils a sense of confidence that our year’s work is on course for success. Teachers who mark are in a better position to diagnose ‘problem areas’. It helps me keep in mind a maximum marks answer so that I can better support the students and keep motivating them to improve.”

RIC won a Good Schools Guide Award for its A level English results in 2011. The same accolade was achieved by the Film Studies department in 2012. RIC Film teacher Nikki Komorowski says: “Marking scripts each year helps me explain what the enigmatic mark criteria actually means to students and teach them how to think like an examiner in order to review their own essay writing skills.”

The real strength of any school is the quality of its team of staff. At RIC, there is very little teacher turn over, ensuring consistency for students. We are lucky to have the resources to recruit and retain the very best teachers by offering a wonderfully civilised and stimulating environment in which to work.

We do not use supply or agency teachers.

best preparation for their GCSEs and A levels from professionals who are really in the know about what is required.

This expertise means students and parents are given more reliable feedback about working levels and there is less danger of coursework marks being changed at moderation.

Our teaching style is positive, enthusiastic and encouraging. Many of our teachers are also textbook authors, filmmakers, musicians and artists. RIC is fortunate in having teachers who also work as examiners in most subjects resulting in our students receiving the very

RIC’s Head of English Dr Rachel Woolley is an Assistant Principal Examiner for one of the boards and says: “Every year I will probably mark, monitor or review the marking of over 800 students. Marking for 10 years has dramatically enhanced my understanding of

Back to School It’s not obligatory to have studied at RIC to get a job here teaching English but it seems to be a trend. Former RIC student and Warwick graduate David Thornthwaite returned to teach English across the College in 2009.

Alongside his teaching, David has just completed his MA in Victorian Literature at UKC.

Rene Cochlin, Head of Politics at RIC and an experienced textbook author and examiner adds: “The marking and consequent conversations with the Chief Examiner has proved invaluable in understanding how and why questions are likely to be set and in having some insight into the details of how answers are likely to be credited. That knowledge has continued to inform my teaching.”

Another RIC alumni, Cambridge graduate Louise Sargeant joins the English teaching team in 2013. Louise studied at Christ’s, John Milton’s former college. Louise was a boarding student and says: “My confidence really grew at RIC and it definitely prepared me for higher education. It’s a little strange (in a good way) returning to be on the other side of the staff room door but I’m incredibly excited to be back. The College has expanded and changed a lot since I was a student and I’m glad to be part of the fantastic team that has allowed that to happen!”

Politics student Jobe Chan says: “The thing I love most about RIC is the teachers. For example Rene in Politics, he is very focussed on techniques and really encouraging.

Students are always worrying about what they know and whether it is enough, he makes you believe in yourself a lot more.”

A recent addition to RIC’s Biology team is UKC graduate Dr Jack South. Jack’s research was in the field of Cancer Biology. Before RIC Jack worked as a postdoctoral research associate at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, USA investigating the genetics of diabetes.

RIC Rural Rangers Geography teachers Richard Blood and RoseMarie Turner continue to grow the College’s Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

In March our students attended a presentation awards evening at Rochester Cathedral. It was a great evening which commended all students in the Medway area who have completed their Duke of Edinburgh awards at all levels.

Congratulations to all Year 9 and Year 10 students who successfully completed their practice expedition in the North Downs. The eager young explorers arrived early Saturday morning with fully loaded rucksacks and sporting a variety of fashions from the fluffy pink fleece to the straw cowboy hat.

After a full day of navigation training both groups were let loose in the countryside to prove they could use their new found skills to negotiate the muddy woods, fields and footpaths to reach their final destination.

RIC Occupies the Library The participants completed the 24km route carrying their tents, food, water and everything else they needed to be self-sufficient for the two day period. The groups were assisted

by Year 11 student and RIC DofE veteran, Oliver Page. Oliver shared his wisdom and helped the groups through their first hiking, camping and outdoor cooking experiences, including a demonstration of his expeditionfriendly Thai noodle curry. Oliver joined RIC from Kings Hill Primary in Year 7 and starts sixth form with us in September.

Sixth form students spent the last day of term in London visiting the Power and Persuasion exhibition and a workshop at the British Library. The exhibition covered systems of information control ranging from totalitarian propaganda to more recent Occupy Wall Street pamphleteering and government dodgy dossiers.

RIC History and Politics students were encouraged to consider whether social media “makes everyone a potential

propagandist.” After the exhibition they went to the nearby UCL campus with RIC History teacher Jonathan Moses where they had the unique opportunity to speak to postgraduate research students working on real historical projects.

“I would like to let you know our delight with Oliver’s Year 7 at RIC. His enthusiasm for learning at school is back - something that had been lost in his final years at primary school.” Year 7 parent

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Where Do Our Boarders Come From?

RIC is home to many international students each year who, as well as securing places at top universities, perfect their English and have a fully rounded cultural experience. 60 out of our 280 students are boarders.

Boarding students this year at RIC came from as far afield as Scotland and Wales, the USA and Canada, Russia, Nigeria, China, Thailand, South Africa, France and Spain. As well as international students RIC’s boarding houses are also home each year to many English sixth formers who have lived, grown up and studied overseas and whose parents are often expat workers. Such students come to RIC for A levels to prepare for UK universities.

First Class Honours RIC Cook Danny Cheung has been awarded a First Class degree in Mechanical Engineering from City University. Danny came to RIC from Hong Kong in 2004 to study English and work in our kitchens. Under the careful mentorship of cook Floss Hatton his traditional roast dinners and baking skills were quickly appreciated by staff and students alike. RIC awarded Danny a full scholarship to allow him to study at university.

RIC’s kitchens served high quality, locally sourced, freshly prepared meals for years before the Jamie Oliver makeover of school

A Question of Sport

dinners. With contracted providers and zero hours contracts increasingly the norm in school catering RIC is proud to have its own properly employed staff who are passionate about real cooking and who don’t simply accept deliveries and reheat meals they have no knowledge of or interest in. Our kitchens produce not only excellent food but also staff with ambition and skills who have gained the confidence to move into other careers both related and unrelated to catering.

Danny will be starting his Masters degree in September and plans to train as a teacher after finishing his studies and join RIC’s award winning Maths department.

Fresh from the Garden Fruits of our students’ labour from the Lower School allotment have been put to good use. Purple mange touts and a multitude of yellow and green courgettes have been used as stir fry. Many a mention has been made about the different flavour of the new potatoes dug up by Simon, which are even more delicious with home grown mint. They also provided the base for excellent onion bhajis, which Mohinder cooked to show the catering team a touch of Indian cuisine first hand, rather than from a recipe book. Plentiful quantities of spinach have provided the basis for salads, quiches and curries. With the promise of beetroot, green beans, spring onions and much more to come we’re busy planning more sumptuous dishes to whet the appetite for the start of term.

RIC has always attracted students who juggle busy high achieving academic and sporting lives. Matt Cammish who joined from Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar played both football and cricket for Kent and is this year celebrating a place at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver and the Chancellor’s Scholarship for outstanding academic achievement. UBC constantly ranks in the world’s top fifty universities and UK students are increasingly looking worldwide when considering their higher education options.

Other sporting successes this year include Kent Schools senior swimming champions Gabby Norris formerly of Combe Bank and Tariq Hamza (both pictured above), who joined from Meopham School. Gabby and Tariq swim at Sevenoaks Swimming Club. Year 9 Jonathan Bailey took part recently in the Annual Kent League swimming Gala at Margate in the under 14s race. Jonathan and his team took first place and won the trophy.

RIC boasts many genuinely high-flying cyclists. Joe Sutton who joined RIC in Year 7 from St Andrews School, Rochester competed in the inter-regional cyclo-cross race in

Milton Keynes and sixth former James Flury who joined RIC’s sixth form after GCSEs at Gravesend Grammar is ranked 42nd nationally for mountain biking. Sixth former and aspiring doctor Charlie Bicknell (pictured below) from Hertfordshire made the South East Regional team for cyclo-cross.

Head of PE Jon Waite says: “Our rugby team train once a week at Medway Rugby Club within walking distance of the school. For fitness work our onsite gym is open each lunchtime and after school.”

“RIC is such a friendly place. My teachers are great and they make the lessons really interesting. We still get lots of work done.

I want to be a GP when I grow up, working with patients and helping them.” Year 8 student

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All Change for Exams

Education seems to be in a state of permanent revolution. Plans to replace the GCSE with English Baccalaureate Certificates and to only allow one of the exam boards to offer a qualification in each subject have been shelved but the government has unveiled plans designed to toughen up GCSEs for the next generation of school children. A levels are also changing and from now on modules are only available in the summer. From 2015 the government proposes returning to linear assessment with all exams taken at the end of a two-year course.

Responding to charges of grade inflation and dumbing down, the new exams will have more challenging subject content. A new scale will grade GCSEs from 1 to 8. The top grade will be reserved for a very small number rather than the 25% or so who get As and A*s now.

The exams regulator Ofqual in a letter to schools candidly revealed that older Science syllabuses “did not adequately test the subject content and were not sufficiently demanding.”

Whatever the merits of the proposed changes, independent schools are free to make their own choices of exam. Some opt for the IGCSE, others for the IB Middle Years Programme. A number have developed their own equivalent qualifications. In 2013 RIC is introducing Environmental Science GCSE in the Lower School which covers topics such as the

management of wildlife resources, population and sustainability, energy resources and global climate change.

The proposed return to a traditional, linear A level is one RIC welcomes. Our sixth formers already benefit from an approach that sees modules taken as and when students are ready for them, not automatically at the end of year 12. There is little point taking exams early when students inevitably perform better at the end of a two-year course. The approach means students are not penalised by poor AS grades in their first year before they have had time to adapt to A level study. Not necessarily teaching to the exam in Year 12 leaves more time for the development of skills and a genuinely broad education. Not completing the full AS in Year 12 has been proved to in no way prejudice university applications as offers are made based on College recommendations and predicted grades. A current RIC A level student says: “Year 12 was great because there were no exams, we could just enjoy our subjects and not stress about grades. Year 13 is more exam orientated.”

What will not be changing with A levels or GCSEs at RIC is the quality of our teaching and the flexibility of our timetabling that allows students to combine the subjects they want to do or need for competitive universities.

Artists of all ages are invited to enter a new art competition launched by a happy partnership of WOW magazine, Rochester Independent College and the University of Kent School of Arts.

“A PICTURE IS WINKLED OUT OF YOUR BRAIN. IT STARTS WITH A MARK ON A WHITE SHEET OF PAPER... SOMETIMES I WHACK A BRIGHT SHEET OF PAPER WITH INK, LET IT DRY, AND THEN SEE WHAT IT’S GOING TO BE...”

Independent College is offering a very special further award. In celebration of our Art building, opening in 2014 and the College’s 30th birthday RIC is launching the Ralph Steadman Art and Design Scholarship, a bi-annual prize which will be first awarded to one of the winners of The Best of... Art Competition.

We are looking for an aspiring young artist with exceptional talent who is committed to furthering their career in the visual arts.

The shortlisted students will be invited for an interview and will be expected to show a portfolio of work before final selection.

Full details of the competition are available on the College website.

Chief Judge is Kent resident Ralph Steadman, one of Britain’s best-known cartoonists, famed for his satirical political caricatures and book illustrations including those for Hunter S Thompson’s ‘Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.’

In addition to the category prizes, Rochester

Depending on the winner the scholarship will be comprised of either: A 2 year full scholarship for A levels at Rochester Independent College Or A Bursary from RIC of £2000 per year for 3 years as financial support for the winning student to help fund their visual arts degree.

30 Years of Kent’s Best Kept Educational Secret 1984 was the year the first Apple Computer went on sale, launched by Ridley Scott’s Orwell inspired advert. O levels and CSEs had yet to be scrapped and replaced by GCSEs and students applying to higher education filled in UCCA and PCAS forms by hand rather than using UCAS online. Chatham’s Royal Navy dockyards were closed by the Thatcher government, The Smiths played at the University of Kent at Canterbury, Sevenoaks School went fully co educational and Prince Philip visited Rochester to inspect the improved pedestrianised high street.

1984 was also the year that two Maths teachers, Brian Pain and Simon de Belder bought a single terrace house on Rochester’s Star Hill.

Their small school, still known to many locally by its original name of Rochester Tutors, has grown into an ISC accredited independent day and boarding college with over 280 students on roll each year. Maths is still the biggest and most successful A level subject. RIC now occupies a historically distinctive campus of thirteen, mostly listed buildings linked by

award winning wildlife gardens, creating a unique sense of place to explore and in which to live, study and work.

The College will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2013-14 with a range of events and initiatives including the opening of a dedicated new Visual Arts Centre in New Court and the launch of The Ralph Steadman Scholarship and Art Competition.

RIC founder Brian Pain teaches Maths to students who consistently break national records with their UMS points scores in a salubrious shed at the heart of RIC’s urban gardens. 2014 will see our 30th anniversary party with alumni, former parents, staff and friends invited to return to the College to celebrate.

Many local doctors, dentists and pharmacists are RIC alumni. The College mascot continues to be the ubiquitous Flying Pig. Since 1984 thousands of students have passed through the doors of the College on Star Hill and gone on to fly.

Interviewing now for Sept 2013 and Sept 2014 . Call us to arrange an informal visit and campus tour Star Hill, Rochester, Kent ME1 1XF Tel: 01634 828115 email: admissions@rochester-college.org