2016/17 | 01634 828115
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THE RIC TIMES A co-educational day & boarding school | Year 7 to sixth form | Non-selective & high performing | ISC accredited
Non-selective 6th form No option blocks Average class size 8
Boarding at Rochester Weekly and full
Retake GCSE while starting A levels A fresh start
Rethink your subjects Intensive, short GCSEs and A levels
Switching schools Year 13 transfers triumph
Successfully Individual Consistently Academic Intensive A levels The routes through A levels our students take are as diverse as their destinations. The key ingredient to this success is the ability to take intenisve one-year courses. One of the top performers, Ella HalpernMatthews, switched to RIC after the first year of the IB Diploma at a local grammar school. Finding A levels a better route, Ella completed three subjects intensively in only one year, making her grades of AAA in History, English Literature and Film Studies even more impressive. Ella has a place to study History at SOAS, University of London, the world’s leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Switching schools after Year 12 Another high flying one-year A level success is Henry Barten from Cranbrook School. Henry joined the College with CDDD at AS, switched all of his subjects and took three one-year A levels in Psychology, Sociology and Film Studies. His grades of AAB have won him a Psychology place at King’s College, London. 2016 has been possibly the most diverse for student destinations: Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge; Astrophysics at Edinburgh; Computing at Imperial to a place at the Istituto Marangoni (the top international fashion school); Medicine at Oxford; Electronic Music and DJ Practice at UCLan;Veterinary Science at Liverpool; Law at Exeter; Aerospace Engineering at Bristol; Japanese at Sheffield. It’s not just university final destinations that are being celebrated. One student won a place on a fiercely competitive Ministry of
Defence apprenticeship scheme and another is off to join the elite 82nd Airborne division of the US Army. Rethink and restart Akin Wright has a first choice place at Manchester for Drama and English, but what he is celebrating even more is that he enjoyed the last two years of his education:“School for me used to be a mixture of waking up early in the morning and trying to think of an excuse for why I should skip it. It used to be spending 8 hours in a building studying a bunch of things I really didn’t care about, and could not remember by the end of the day, then going home and avoiding as much work as I could. I spent 5 years at a traditional private school that tried too hard to be Eton and never succeeded, and then a year at a state school which was even worse. Believe me when I say making the switch to RIC genuinely changed my life. If you’re looking for somewhere where they will not only treat you like you are in university, a place where you can choose your own subjects which aren’t confined to blocks so you can create the A level course and experience you want and be surrounded by a positive, hard working but fun vibe, then go to Rochester Independent College.” Akin had done a year of AS before joining RIC and, while many students opt to transfer directly into Year 13, Akin decided to rip up the past and make a completely new start. Enrolling on a conventional two-year A level programme certainly paid off for him.
Musical Gates and Flying Pigs The Good Schools Guide describes the College as a “place for individuals” and quotes one mother discussing our lack of school gates competitiveness:‘That playground talk, everyone wanting their child to be in the top set, you don’t have that’.Well, we have taken school gates competitiveness to a whole
new level and we think we have aced it. Created by Henry Dagg, Faversham-based sound sculptor and engineer, the RIC Musical Gates form an amazing musical instrument.“It has a pitch span of six octaves, so most of the orchestral range, and each section has its own very distinctive sound quality,” said Henry,“It
Emma Macgregor and Lizzie Jones celebrate their 1st choice university places at Sheffield and Exeter
will require a group of players to co-operate, like hand-bell ringers, which will help develop skills every musician needs to be a good ensemble player.” We’d love anyone interested in this challenge to contact us. Quirkily adorned with six porcine sculptures, clover leaves, a mathematical equation known as Euler’s Relationship and a Middle English inscription, the gates are a landmark
piece of public art which has educational value, not only to RIC but to surrounding schools and the wider community. The Flying Pig has been the College’s motif since founders Brian Pain and Simon de Belder were told by cynical friends that pigs would fly if they set up their own College. They have been flying ever since.
“For the first time in two years I felt as though my dream of doing medicine was possible because I knew I was surrounded by people whose advice I trusted.” Natasha Alford, accepted to study Medicine at Bristol
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RIC is Kent’s University Entrance Specialist The University of Exeter has a choice of more than 200 societies to join each year ranging from Korean Pop and Baking to Street Magic and Longboarding.
Top 20 RIC Uni Destinations 2010-2016 1
Exeter University
30
Students in the RIC class of 2016 have won places at the university in subjects ranging from Medicine and Law to Politics.
2
Leeds University
21
3
Kent University
20
4
Sussex University
16
Exeter is one of the Russell Group universities whose admissions policy is explicit about welcoming applications from students retaking their A levels saying: “The University does not discriminate against applicants who have retaken part or all of a qualification and will treat an achieved or predicted qualification grade in the same way irrespective of whether or not retakes are involved (this applies to all our programmes including BMBS Medicine).”
5
Sheffield University
16
6
Cambridge University
15
7
Nottingham University
15
8
Portsmouth University
15
9
University College London
13
10
University of East Anglia
13
11
Reading University
13
12
Oxford Brookes
13
13
Kings College London
12
Exeter’s alumni ranges from J.K. Rowling and Thom Yorke of Radiohead to Will Young.
14
Liverpool University
12
15
Bristol University
11
Sadly, RIC’s newest Exeter undergraduates will not be able to look forward to the hugs that the retiring Chancellor, former BBC Playschool presenter and cuddle enthusiast Floella Benjamin became known for while dispensing degrees. In her time in office, Benjamin appeared at 172 graduation ceremonies and hugged more than 35,000 graduates.
16
Southampton University
11
17
Brighton University
11
18
Imperial
10
19
Bristol University
10
20
Nottingham Trent
10
University Destinations 2016 Student Name
Previous School
University Course
Even the top universities now offer places in clearing, so we always advise checking options carefully before deciding to retake. This year St George’s and Sheffield had Medical School places in Clearing for the first time. Some students have benefited from a new trend whereby universities make offers unconditional if students firm them as their first choice. Universities ranging from Birmingham and Reading to UEA and Oxford Brookes are using this system. Sam Nash, who joined RIC from Invicta Grammar, and Maria Mendis (pictured below) from Westcliff High School both received matching unconditional offers for the prestigious BA Fashion Marketing course at UAL London College of Fashion. The new UCAS Direct Contact service allows institutions to contact unplaced students offering them courses. Sam Wallace from King’s Canterbury last year found himself in Clearing with AAB after missing an
Imperial offer and described being enthusiastically pursued by many different universities offering alternatives before he eventually opted to resit at RIC, pushing his B in Chemistry to an A* and doing A level Stats in only two terms. Sam reapplied to Imperial and takes up his place at the South Kensington based university, currently ranked 3rd in Europe and 8th in the world next term. He’ll be joined there by Rohan Pritchard who came to RIC from Sackville School. Rohan also reapplied second time around to Imperial and won a Computer Science place after achieving a Grade A in Philosophy in one year from scratch.
Confirmed UCAS places on 23/8/16
University
Adebola Aderibigbe Christ The King 6th form Criminology Kent Tobi Akinmade Wilson’s School Mgment & Economics Leicester Noor Al Wattar Dubai College Environmental Biotech Plymouth Natasha Alford Judd School Medicine Bristol Charlotte Almazan Gad’s Hill Digital Film Production Ravensbourne Kitti Anusin Benchama Maharat Maths & Statistics Leeds Laith Azzee Dubai British School International Business Kent Gurpreet Bains Cobham Hall Accounting & Finance Richmond Henry Barten Cranbrook School Psychology Kings, London Shonalea Bartlett Cobham Hall Archaeology Cardiff Rosie Bateman Bennett Memorial English & Film Leeds Barney Bingham TW Grammar for Boys Psychology Bournemouth Dorothea Blackmore Trottiscliffe Primary Art Foundation UCA Rochester Chotipan Boonkongkird Thai Government Scholar Astrophysics Edinburgh Hassan Boumecid British Int School, Al khobar Business Info Systems Middlesex Kate Brown QE Queen Grammar Int Dev & Economics UEA Alice Bushell Kent College Canterbury German/Hispanic Studies Queen Mary Siobhan Casha King’s School, Canterbury Biomedical Sciences Brunel Tatenda Chitakasha Wilmington Girls Actuarial Science Essex Olivia Clark Invicta Grammar School Business Studies Bournemouth Natalie Clayton Gravesend Grammar Media Studies Brighton Tavis Cochrane-Dyet Sackville School English & Film Keele Daniel Colbran The Skinners’ School Aerospace Engineering Bristol Marta Colomer Fatjo St. Catherine’s School Fashion Design Istituto Marangoni Rufus Cottrell Cranbrook School Classical Civilisation Swansea Amy Crawford Farringtons School English Leeds Laura Crossley Wilmington Grammar Business Studies Bournemouth Philip Cunnington TW Grammar for Boys Music Production BIMM, London Connor Davis St Michael’s RC Primary Philosophy Reading Joel Day The Skinners’ School French St Andrews George de Wit Chaney Maidstone Grammar Art Foundation UCA Rochester Max De-Laurey Ewell Castle School Accounting & Finance Cumbria Adam Din St Columba’s School Art Foundation Oxford Brookes Josie Doherty St Columba’s School Master of Planning Manchester Morgan Evans Oakwood Park Grammar Politics Anglia Ruskin Thanish Faisz Rochester Maths School Medicine Czech Republic
Student Name
Previous School
University Course
University
Georgina Farrow Bromley High School Criminology & Psychology Winchester Iyola (Tami) Fashola Wisdom House College Criminology & Psychology Hull Alexander Fielder High Weald, Cranbrook Music Technology de Montfort Aisling Finn Judd School Politics & Internat Relations Exeter Frederick Fone Tonbridge School Marketing & Management Newcastle Hayden Fraser Judd School Physics with Astronomy Liverpool George Glyde Lingfield Notre Dame Communication & Media Bournemouth Joshua Grant Etham College, Philosophy Sussex James Griggs King’s School, Canterbury Property Investment Reading Ella Halpern-Matthews TOGS History SOAS George Hambly Harrow Int, Bangkok History York Tariq Hamza Meopham School International Relations Coventry Kirsten Hands Sevenoaks School Biochemistry Southampton Beatrice Harley Walthamstow Hall English & Film Leeds Katherine Harris Simon Langton Graphic Design Leeds George Hill King’s School, Canterbury Accounting & Finance York Myrran Hills Maidstone Grammar Veterinary Science Liverpool Jessica Hines King’s Rochester Music Royal Holloway Laura Horner Cobham Hall Art Foundation Course UCA Rochester Edward Houchin Eastbourne College Human Biosciences Exeter Todd Hunt King’s School, Canterbury International Relations Royal Holloway Olivia Issuree Mayfield Grammar Nursing KCL Oluwatobiloba Iyiola Gravesend Grammar Business & Economics Keele Iris Joffe Invicta Grammar School Arabic and Spanish Leeds Alice Jones Maidstone Grammar Industrial Design Liverpool Elizabeth Jones Maidstone Grammar Law Exeter David Joseph Wymondham College Business Management Notts Trent Bedirkhan Kaplan King’s School, Canterbury International Relations KCL Jasmine Kidy St Andrew’s Int, Malawi Chemistry with Foundation Kent Daisy Kinghorn Walthamstow Hall Geography Exeter Saskia Kirsopp Anglo European School Psychology & Criminology Coventry Felix Koegel Lycee De G, Luxembourg Intn’l Business & German Aston Tristan Lee Cranbrook School Medical Engineering Swansea Samuel Lewis Sutton Valence School Film Production Bournemouth Rowena Lines Invicta Grammar School Medical Engineering Swansea Liberty Ling Simon Langton Grammar Politics & Int Relations Greenwich
“Many students transfer after poor progress at AS or A level and the effect can be dramatic” Good Schools Guide
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Switching schools for A level success Part of the endless debate about standards in education revolves around Grammar Schools. Kent is of course one of the homes of the Grammar School. The system suits many students, but many find that their experience changes in the sixth form. Schools are under increasing pressure to ‘perform’ and often this means that students who under-perform at AS find themselves unable to continue with the subjects of their choice, or, at some schools, actually asked to leave. Others simply lose confidence.
her A levels. There they promised her so much but gave so little real support - once she had enrolled they seemed to lose all interest in her. At RIC she was supported and encouraged from the minute she came until the minute she left. She has got all her confidence back and is really looking forward to uni. ” Parents of Theodora Penney
Theodora Penney was aiming for a place at Sheffield to study Economics but thought after CDE grades at AS that she had lost that chance for ever. But after transferring straight into year 13 at RIC she improved her AS grades DE in Politics and Economics to A level AB and achieved an A grade in World Development in one year from scratch. She now has the place at Sheffield University for Economics that she thought she had lost.
“I had attended one of the leading Grammar schools in Kent, and did relatively well. I had always enjoyed learning and school but often felt restricted and uninspired. Asking questions about work seemed to be a bit of an inconvenience. I felt pressured, not supported and encouraged. When I got my A level results I was in complete shock and confusion. I had a dream of attending Exeter to study law, but with grades EEC that dream seemed over. But then Alistair at RIC told me I wasn’t a failure. I knew that this was the school that I wanted to attend, because it wasn’t just a place to learn, but somewhere that truly believed in me encouraged me to persevere and be resilient. I will never forget the moments of reassurance and dedication that my teachers have offered me.
“We are over the moon. We can’t believe that she has actually got the place she wanted. This time last year we were so worried and so disappointed with the year she spent at the Grammar School she transferred to for
Student Name
Frederick Linley Emma MacGregor Jordan MacLachlan Susannah Martin Charlotte McCarthy Joseph McManners Flora McRitchie Maria Mendis Hugh Miller Darcie Moore Florence Moore Lauren Morley Elizabeth Morrell Emma Mortassagne Hannah Mount Chloe Moxam Layal Mushatat y Panashe Mwerenga r Samantha Nash Charles North y Edward Norton Maryam Oduwole Oluwakemi Ogunlola Connor O’Shea Oliver Page Theodora Penney Rose Penston Zara Petts Natthikan Phongteeramitr Nonpawith Phoommanee Stephen Pippin Rohan Pritchard Sophie Proctor Rattana Pukdee Jock Rayment Christopher Richardson
Lizzie Jones (pictured front cover), from Maidstone, restarted her A levels, achieved A*AAB and now has a place at Exeter for Law.
It is not only Grammar School students who sometimes need to change course. Charlotte McCarthy transferred from year 12 at a prestigious independent school with AS grades EDU in Economics, History and Psychology. She continued with Economics but took two new subjects (World Development and Film) in a
year from scratch. With A level grades ABB she has a place on her first choice course, Business Management at Oxford Brookes. “She is absolutely delighted with them, particularly gaining an A in Economics and Business. Please pass on my thanks to all the teachers who were instrumental in her gaining these results. We can’t believe that having come from a D, E and U at AS she has jumped to ABB in one year. We are so pleased that we moved her to RIC when we did.” Parents of Charlotte McCarthy.
For me, Law at Exeter is now reality and not a pipe dream.”
Previous School
University Course
University
Sackville School Lutheran South Academy Gravesend Grammar Highsted Grammar Woldingham School Tonbridge School Cobham Hall Westcliffe High School King’s School, Canterbury King’s School, Canterbury Judd School St Lawrence College Home Educated Walthamstow Hall Simon Langton Kent College, Canterbury British Int School, Jeddah Gaynes School Invicta Grammar School Invicta Grammar School Bennett Memorial Gravesend Grammar Wilmington Grammar Sutton Valence School Kings Hill Primary Fort Pitt Grammar Walthamstow Hall St Edmund’s, Canterbury Thai Government Scholar Thai Government Scholar Lancing College Sackville School St Bede’s School Thai Government Scholar Wilmington Grammar King’s School, Canterbury
Engineering Geology Portsmouth Biology Sheffield Media Practice Sussex Occupational Therapy Cumbria Business Management OxfordBrookes Medicine Oxford Art Foundation UCA Rochester Fashion Buying & Merc UAL PPE Exeter Japanese Studies Sheffield Biochemistry Exeter Philosophy Kent Art Foundation UCA Rochester Geography Loughborough Digital Media Leeds Classical/Archaelogical St Kent Film and TV UAL Financial Economics Leicester Fashion Buying & Merch UAL History Sussex Theatre & Performance Leeds Sociology Nottingham Politics & Int Relations Birmingham Accounting & Business Mgt York Paramedic Science UEA Economics and Politics Sheffield Business & Management Reading Marine Science Cornwall Pharmacy UCL Biomedical Engineering UCL 82nd Airborne division of the US Army Computing & AI Imperial English & American Lit Kent Maths Oxford Criminology & Sociology Kent Biological Sciences Durham
Student Name
Previous School
University Course
University
William Robinson Wilmington Grammar Creative Film Studies Bath Spa Chanathip Rojjanapanitpreeda Thai Government Scholar Physiotherapy Brunel Martim Rola CLIP, Oporto Electronic Music & DJ Pract UCLan Beulah Samuel-Ogbu Cobham Hall English SOAS Arjun Sandhu Gravesend Grammar Geography Hertfordshire Awais Shafi Judd School Medicine Czech Replic Sompob Shanokprasith Thai Government Scholar Natural Sciences Cambridge Flynn Silby Gad’s Hill History Chichester Phattharaporn Singkanipa Thai Government Scholar Natural Sciences Cambridge Martha Skillern Simon Langton Economics UEA Mhairi Smith Norton Knatchbull Cadetship with a shipping company Emily Solly King’s School, Canterbury History of Art Oxford Brookes Charles Spall Gad’s Hill Architecture Oxford Brookes Vit Sriprachyakul Thai Government Scholar Maths Cambridge Alexandra Swain Bedales English Exeter Scarlett Swain Simon Langton Law Sussex Emily Taylor Simon Langton Theology and Religion Durham Oluwatomiwa (Tomi) Tayo St Thomas More High Health and Life Sci F’dation Coventry Imogen Thompson Invicta Grammar Psychology Bournemouth James Thompson Valley Park Event Management Winchester Jake Todd King’s School, Canterbury Law Exeter William Trickett Ipswich School Music Production BIMM London Anna Tucker Hillview School for Girls History Plymouth Hannah Turner Invicta Grammar School Primary Education CantChristchurch Toby Vautier Bryanston School Business Psychology Loughborough Sam Wallace King’s School, Canterbury Biological Sciences Imperial Ella Wallis Chislehurst & Sidcup Law Exeter Alexander Warnes Oakwood Park Theatre and English Brunel Natasha West Clifton High School Dentistry Bristol Thomas Weston TW Boys Grammar Psychology Swansea Jesse Wilson TW Boys Grammar English and Film Leeds Abi Wong Simon Langton Grammar Medicine Exeter Wipada Wongchuen Thai Government Scholar Dentistry Dundee Panawat Wong-Klaew Thai Government Scholar Natural Sciences Cambridge Akin Wright Bullers Wood School Drama and English Manchester
“Pupils have come from grammars where they felt under too much pressure, or from large schools where they felt overwhelmed, and all say they are learning better and enjoying school more here.” Good Schools Guide
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RIC Gallery
Kate Harris, A level Photography
Adam Din, A Level Fine Art
Megan Bennett, A level Photography
Emily Solly, A level Fine Art
Will Trickett, A level Photography
Orin Thomas GCSE Photography
FabRICs home grown talent The College offers a broad education from Year 7 to sixth form and students are equally likely to specialise in the Creative Arts or Maths and Science. Dorothea Blackmore (pictured left with her results) joined RIC from a local Primary school at the age of 11 and stayed on for sixth form. Talented artist Dorothea is celebrating three top grades Graphic Design (A*), Textiles and Fashion (A*) and English Literature (A). She starts her Art Foundation course at UCA Rochester in September. Year 12 student Daniel Phillips, who joined RIC from Sutton Valence prep in Year 7, gained an A* in A level Maths early with a stunning 582/600.
Marta Colomer, A level Textiles
RIC at the movies The RIC Film studies department has excelled, winning top national awards for both A level and GCSE results. RIC has been presented these awards by The Good Schools Guide for out-performing all other English schools in its category. The prestigious annual awards are based on a detailed analysis of the most recent examination results and are designed to highlight consistently good teaching. Ralph Lucas, Editor of The Good Schools Guide, comments, “Our awards scheme is designed to recognise and reward excellence in teaching in at both GCSE and A Level. Our awards give individual teachers and departments the recognition they deserve.”
RIC has encouraged many young film makers over the years. Clio Barnard, the BAFTA award winning director of The Arbor and The Selfish Giant, was film maker in residence. The local area has a distinguished place in film history. When David Lean was making his adaptation of Dickens’ Great Expectations he previewed Brief Encounter in a cinema near Chatham dockyards. More recently the historic setting has been the backdrop for Suffragette starring Meryl Streep and the Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
“Parents all speak highly of the pastoral care, and the growth in confidence they have witnessed in their children.” Good Schools Guide
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“It would be hard to find better provision for an artist” Good Schools Guide
Libby Morrell, A level Fine Art
Marta Colomer, A level Fine Art
Textile sample
Marta Colomer, A level Fine Art
Adam Din, A level Fine Art
Freddie Fone, A level Graphic Design
Charlie Stacey, GCSE Graphic Design
STEM Success
Breakin’ academic boundaries It ain ’ t whe re y o u ’ re it ’ s whe re yo u r from e at INTERNATIONAL Hip Hop Studies CONFERENCE
Hip-Hop, Rap and Grime were the unlikely words of the day to a packed hall in Wolfson College as academics from around the world gathered to listen to RIC’s Dr Todd Dedman. Todd’s paper “I Remember You Was Conflicted” Audience Responses to the Representation of Ethnicity and Femininity in Rap and Grime Music was enthusiastically received by a packed audience at one of the busiest talks at the three-day International Hip Hop Conference in June this year.
from as far afield as Australia and Estonia (including Harvard and Stanford; possibly together with Oxbridge the most prestigious academic institutions in the world) and also by Excalibah - the first ever DJ to have a contract with BBC1 Xtra. Todd is continuing to work on his first book Purists and Peripherals: Hip Hop and Grime Subcultures. Advance orders now being taken!
Nationally, for every four boys who study Physics there is only one girl. At RIC, however, the proportion of successful female Physicists is doubled. This year, one of these attained not only an A* but full marks: 600/600, an almost unheard of achievement. Fittingly for such a science star, Phattharaporn Singkanipa, who is sponsored by the Royal Thai Government, is passionate about the night sky as she demonstrated during her Cambridge interview presentation.
RIC teachers are a scholarly bunch. Dr Kamila Pawlikowska who teaches If you thinkCollege, of the University of Cambridge Todd is the first person in the world to Wolfson University Cambridge Sociology and Psychology is going to be as being the of home of pure-voiced capped- have a paper published investigating a visiting scholar at Penn State University and-gowned choirs carolling to ancient the cultural impact of grime music. The 23RD - 24TH JUNE 2016 this October Her first book is entitled lofty spires, and dinner-jacketed gentry Conference, ‘It ain’t where you’re from, it’s Anti-Portraits: Poetics of the Face in English, pattering polite applause to quartets in where you’re at’, was attended by Polish and Russian Literature. theKEYNOTE Quads; think again. internationally renowned universities SPEAKERS Murray Forman Tricia Rose “Those whose strengths lie outside the traditionally alpha areas of academic or sport have their own
more respect for art and creativity,’ said one pupil.” Good Schools Guide http://hiphopstudies.org Email: jrb86@cam.ac.uk
kudos. ‘There is a lot
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Exam passnotes
Resit and board
“I am pleased that we can ensure that no student taking AS or A levels will have to effectively study for a new qualification if things don’t go to plan the first time around.” Julie Swan, Ofqual
The RIC boarding option for those doing A level retakes or one-year A level courses allows students from other schools to still move on, as they might have initially planned to do, before results day changed their original higher education plans. Many opt to weekly board at RIC for their A level retakes from London or elsewhere in the South East.
Although A levels are being reformed, you can still retake legacy exams in MayJune next year. All AS and A2 modules are available to retake, including coursework and practicals. GCSEs are also changing, but students who have taken exams on the legacy English and Maths syllabus in 2016 will be able to resit if necessary in Nov 2016 and in summer 2017. Whatever the merits of the changes, what will not be changing is the quality of our teaching and the flexibility of our timetabling that allows students to combine the subjects they want to do and need for their chosen higher education paths. • You can opt for a one-year programme or a shorter course, January to June, depending on your target grade and starting point. RIC staff will be able to advise. • The only qualifying criteria is that students must have taken the whole exam subject before at A level in order to retake, or have been prevented from doing so due to health reasons • New A levels are no longer modular but return to the traditional linear pattern with exams taken at the end of the course. • The AS is now not part of the A level but a stand-alone qualification that some schools may choose not to enter students for at the end of the first year of study. • Teaching of the new syllabuses in both A level and GCSE is being phased in over three years, having started in 2015, meaning that students are now often studying a mixture of newly reformed and modular A level subjects. • A new scale sees the GCSEs graded from 9-1 rather than A*-G with 9 the highest and set above the current A*.
Missed your crucial GCSE grades? Call RIC to learn about our intensive retake courses or combining these with starting A levels
Retake Advice Line
01634 828115
New RIC boarding house “The campus is as unique as the school” Good Schools Guide
RIC occupies a historically distinctive site with listed buildings linked by award-winning wildlife gardens creating a unique place to explore and in which to study and work. At the heart of a designated conservation area, carefully restored buildings are enhanced by modern design features. Underhill Hall is home to RIC Drama with seating for 100 people. The copper canopied roof transforms into an open-air auditorium with productions from visiting theatre companies and students. Low voltage electrical installation and modern construction techniques combine to give the underground building a minimal carbon footprint. Over 200 sash windows on the Georgian terrace have been rebuilt and our student residences now offer the option of en suite facilities. Our new boarding house - the College’s twelfth Grade II listed buildingwill offer an additional 36 ‘hotel standard’ rooms and sees the striking building which housed the University School of Rochester from 1897 to 1940 returned to its original educational use. The Independent Schools Inspectorate say: “Students appreciate their relationship with their environment and a calm and
respectful atmosphere pervades. The grounds and garden, partly developed by the students, provide a valuable resource. The mood is relaxed and inclusive, enabling all to feel secure, develop their personalities and appreciate their role within the community. Students feel that there is little bullying or unkindness and attribute the happy atmosphere to the fact that ‘everyone knows everyone’.” It has always been the College’s policy to invest profits back into the business and we will continue to develop the campus to improve facilities for students. The College campus is rich in both local history and, now, augmented reality. Finland House on St Margaret’s Banks was, during Chatham’s maritime heyday, the Finnish Consulate. The building this year has found itself transformed into a local Pokestop, alongside such landmarks as Rome’s Colosseum, Stonehenge and New York’s Central Park.
Chris Richardson, who joined from King’s Canterbury, went from BBC at A level to A*AA winning a Durham place for Biological Sciences. Toby Vautier from Bryanston School in Somerset improved his CDD to ABB. Particularly noteworthy is that while Toby boosted his Economics grade from a C to an A he opted to take two new subjects from scratch in one year, English Literature and Film Studies. His parents said: “We are relieved and grateful in equal measure. It has helped his confidence greatly. He is really buzzed about Loughborough which is also positive.” Toby’s Business Psychology course at Loughborough is a new one, taught by a team from the university’s renowned School of Economics and Business.
Olympigs 2016 has been an Olympic year at RIC as well as in Rio. Every year since 1991, the College has hosted talented students sponsored by the Thai Government on their Olympiad Scholarship programme. To qualify, the students take part in national and international Olympiads. This year Vit Sripryachkul came with a gold medal from the international Physics Olympiad in Kazakhstan which he has now topped up with A*A*A*A*A and three STEP papers graded as outstanding. Rattana Pukdee, Sompbob Shaknoprasith and Panawat Wong-Klaew had all gained Silver medals in international Maths and Physics Olympiad and have places at Oxford and Cambridge for Maths and Natural Sciences having taken at least four A levels in one year and gaining A and A* grades. Year 12 Biologists took part in the Intermediate Biology Olympiad. Daisy Cochrane-Dyet and Daniel Davidson achieved Bronze medals and Hugo Halpern and Caitlin Borowsky were Highly Commended. Ollie Mangion, who completed his A levels at RIC last year, has been selected for the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020
“Maths is the biggest A level subject. English Literature and film studies are also strong departments, both having received Good Schools Guide awards in recent years.” Good Schools Guide
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Medical applicants tell of their success Getting into Medical School is not a quick and easy process and students approach it in many different ways. For the lucky few, an impeccable background of academic success leads faultlessly to acceptance at Medical School. For many, life just isn’t that straightforward. Natasha Alford has a place at Bristol after retaking. “After a difficult time at my previous school I got AADd - not results that would get me to medical school. So I enrolled at RIC and I felt as though my dream of doing medicine could be possible because I was surrounded by people whose advice I trusted. I was taught to understand my subjects, not just revise for the exam. Don’t get me wrong; we did a lot of exam preparation too! Taking Sociology from scratch in a year pushed me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to look at the world around me and to question everything. I felt great to be in a place where asking questions or saying you don’t understand didn’t seem like a weakness. The teachers were more than willing to help during the lesson time or outside. I’m so incredibly happy I had to retake my A levels because attending Rochester taught me the ability to learn and more importantly understand what I’m learning. And also to face failure and know it’s not the end of the world. Although I attended Rochester to gain good A levels what I actually gained during my time there was so much more.”
Also off to Bristol, but for Dentistry, a year later than she had expected, is Natasha West having gained an A* in English to add to her A*s in sciences. Awais Shafi and Thanish Faisz, who retook Science A levels, decided not to apply to British Medical Schools and instead have opted for the increasingly popular option of Medical Schools in the Czech republic. Thanish, who improved his BCC science grades to AAA says: “The subject teachers provide 100% support to each individual student and are always willing to help their students to achieve their maximum potential.” Myrran Hills has a much-coveted place at Liverpool for Veterinary Science after retaking. “I was impressed with the standard of teaching from day 1.The continuous support I received from my excellent teachers, Janet and Julian, and their individually tailored teaching methods and approach to exams really pushed me to succeed. Dr Rachel Woolley, RIC’s UCAS advisor, knew exactly what was required to help make my veterinary application the best it could be, and offered me great advice in
preparing for my interviews. To come out with A*AA was an amazing feeling. So now my dream has become my reality. I am unbelievably excited to start this new chapter of my life, and to apply everything I’ve learnt at RIC to my studies at university.” Congratulations also to our four two-year Thai Government Scholars who have achieved places in Dentistry, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy and Biomedical Engineering. This is a particularly impressive set of
results as they had to take their exams in a second language. A mention also for last year’s featured medic Joe McManners, who has spent his year gaining an extra A grade in Physics to add to the five A* grades he has already. Joe is off to Oxford and Abi Wong, also featured last year, is to start her course in Exeter this October after retaking A levels and her third application. She had a well-deserved few months relaxing and travelling the world.
A school without walls This is the last year of the venerable modular A level, which will be taking with it some of the standout novels and plays that we have studied in English, including Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. The tale of uncontrolled ambition and an unwise bargain is timeless and universal. We needed something special to see this flagship text off. Fortunately, the Royal Shakespeare Company provided us with exactly that by putting on a splendid new production of the play. We have seen some fantastic productions of Doctor Faustus over the years, but this was a wonderful performance to finish on, faithful to Marlowe’s text, yet bold enough to conjure the more than four centuries old work to life.The students really appreciated it, which always makes any trip worthwhile.
We are fortunate in Rochester to be surrounded by literary history. Charles Dickens never actually lived in Rochester (Chatham and Higham claim that distinction), but he set parts of The Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations and Edwin Drood here and his entry on ‘Dullborough’ for The Uncommercial Traveller, the series of sketches for his magazine All the Year Round, provides a vivid portrait of what was then a small cathedral city. But Rochester has another advantage and that’s the excellent transport links, that make it easy to enjoy other places too.
When he lectured at Cornell, Vladimir Nabokov felt it vital that students of Joyce and Tolstoy understood the layout of Dublin and the floor plan of 19th-century Russian train carriages. When it comes to Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen, there’s something to be learnt from Nabokov’s approach, with elegant dances in the Assembly Rooms, intimate teas in the Pump Room and ludicrous mock abductions in Great Pulteney Street unimaginable in any other setting. David Thornthwaite, Head of English, and himself a RIC alumnus writes of a recent trip:
“Bath has changed so little since the early 19th century and as we wandered the elegant streets of this world heritage site the 21st century started to slip away and the world of Austen’s novel rose in its place. We enjoyed an excellent tour by Bath expert Dr Moira Rudolph, who took us to the many precise locations that Austen drew on, as well as those places she knew when she lived in the city in the early years of the 19th century. We also slipped in a visit to the Roman Baths which was particularly popular with our historians and visual artists.
Next year, the canonical carousel has given us King Lear and we hope to welcome this new text with a visit to a production which is every bit as good. We have already booked tickets for Glenda Jackson’s return to the stage from her foray into politics in the title role.” It is not only the English Department that ventures out into the world. Dr Alistair Donaldson took his students to see a 21st-century take on Homer The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead at the Globe. The EFL students enjoyed trips around the local area and this year took a break from pre-exam nerves with a long weekend youth hostelling in beautiful Dorset. The A level Biologists also ventured to Juniper Hall in Surrey for their field trip.
“The students are a strikingly nice bunch. It’s a place for individuals, and there’s a lovely air of tolerance and warmth.” Good Schools Guide
From Year 7 to Sixth Form | www.rochester-college.org | 01634 828115
Space Oddities & Astropigs This year, British Science Week went cross curricular and landed in the Lower School at Rochester Independent College with an emphasis on all things space related.
Non-uniform schooling This year, RIC was chosen to appear in The Daily Telegraph, debating the merits of school uniform. In the pro-uniform corner was Harrow School, famous for its straw hats and tails rather than the hoodies and t-shirts more characteristic of our students’ wardrobe. At RIC, students are free to wear whatever they like, as long as their clothing is not dangerous or offensive. Teachers, who are addressed by their first names, don’t waste time telling resentful uniform code refuseniks to tuck their shirts in. With the rules relaxed, students choose to dress sensibly on a daily basis for the classroom, not the catwalk. In the words of The Good Schools Guide: “The only thing to rebel against here is education itself.” Non-uniform schools are easily caricatured as progressive bohemian enclaves, rejecting exam success and fostering educational anarchy. At RIC, however, students adopt a formal approach to their studies and treat exam preparation seriously. Last year saw a record number placed at university for medicine, alongside those getting into top art and film schools. Oxbridge offers are received every year.
The Independent Schools Inspectorate judged that the personal development and behaviour of RIC students was “excellent”, saying: “The use of first names and informal attire generate a relaxed environment. Sanctions are few in an atmosphere which values respect highly, and rudeness is not tolerated.” Some English schools (and politicians) see uniform as a quick fix for a range of problems. However, serious discipline and academic issues are unlikely to be solved by resurrecting the blazer or draconian decrees issued from the headmaster’s study regarding skirt length. Students flourish when they’re treated as free-range individuals, rather than batteryhen units that must conform. Examples from around the world show that high standards of discipline, team spirit and attainment are not synonymous with school uniform.
Students learned about the Cold War space race in their History lessons, polished their Russian language skills and donned a replica NASA space suit made famous by the Apollo missions. Seeds that went to space with Tim Peake returned to earth and our Year 7 and 8 students planted them and monitored their growth at set intervals.
ROCHESTER INDEPENDENT COLLEGE
We discovered this year that the RIC Lower School also has a connection with iconic fictional astronaut Major Tom and rock star alien Ziggy Stardust. New Road House, home to our younger students,is fondly remembered by many in Rochester as The Good Companions Club. A young David Bowie is recorded as performing at the club in 1964, before his career blasted off into the popular cultural firmament.
Need an alternative non-selective year 7 option for Sept 2016 or 2017? Call or visit us to learn about the school with the smallest class sizes in Kent.
RIC at a glance • 305 students • Co-educational • Year 7 to 6th form entry • Average Class Size 8 • No uniform • 15% International, 85% UK students • Day students from 11 and boarders from 16 • GCSE, AS and A level retakes • Transfer for Year 13 or restart Year 12 • One-year GCSE courses • Repeat Year 11 or transfer to RIC after Year 10 • No subject combination restrictions • No minimum GCSE grades required • Regular Medicine, Dentistry & Veterinary Science university placements • Minibus services from Maidstone, Kings Hill, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells • 90 on-campus supervised boarding places • 37 mins by train from London St Pancras • Consistently ranked by bestschools.co.uk as a Top UK Co-Educational Boarding School • Good Schools Guide award winners in Science, English and Film Studies
Research agrees that the perceived benefits of sartorial strictness are bogus. A recent Harvard study reported that “relaxed, liberal schools that shun uniforms and encourage pupils to call teachers by their first names produce students who are more motivated than in disciplined establishments”. Importantly, the lack of uniform is widely debated among our students – they’re aware of the danger of defining individuality in terms of clothing, and of issues such as body image and self esteem. As media savvy individuals, they are suspicious of attempts by some schools to use uniform as part of their corporate identity and brand. “Not having to wear school uniform is a blast,” says one Year 9 pupil. “We love having freedom of expression.”
Interviewing now for Sept 2016 and Sept 2017 • Call us to arrange an informal visit and campus tour Star Hill, Rochester, Kent ME1 1XF Tel: 01634 828115 email: admissions@rochester-college.org