The RIC educational experience is one that sees a wide range of subjects taught in a unique boarding campus environment designed to support learning and foster wellbeing and wonder.
Students in all parts of the school do not sit at rows of individual desks but gather around one table, in the style of a university tutorial. The focus is on achievement without unnecessary pressure, on examination success in a lively, supportive and informal atmosphere.
At RIC students learn and achieve more because they enjoy school and feel positive about themselves.
The use of first names, and informal attire generate a relaxed working environment. Sanctions are few in an atmosphere which values respect highly, and rudeness is not tolerated.
It sounds like an experiment in alternative education but, in fact, the teaching is rigorous and tailored to the best possible exam results
We encourage students to carry on with the interesting things in their life outside of school: we certainly don’t take over their home life. We always involve parents and keep them up to date. Because it works if we’re all in this together.
Speak to any RIC student and they’re likely to evince a special kind of confidence, voicing opinions that come from obvious critical thought. It’s hard to peg them to any categories. Rather, they’re a dynamic bunch with no fear of carving their own paths to success. They leave us real world ready, not only with exam results that exceed expectations but also with enthusiasm for the future, a readiness to make life more interesting and with confidence about themselves and their education.
1 / 3
Our reputation was first established in Mathematics and the Sciences. Royal Thai Government Scholarship students join each year, often after winning International Olympiad Gold Medals before arriving at RIC. Many of the College’s former students are now successful medical practitioners and local GPs, surgeons and consultants often send their children to us.
As well as offering traditional academic pathways, RIC is also one of the leading creative boarding schools in the UK and our staff, who are all practitioners in their own right, have industry and studio experience in filmmaking, fine art, illustration, graphic design and digital media, music technology, photography and fashion and textiles. From 2026 we are adding Dance and 3D/Ceramics to our A level options.
RIC is characterised by an unusual flexibility, a focus on making the system- and the timetable- fit around the students who come here rather than the other way around.
We avoid overengineering education, overcomplicating it. As an alternative to traditional boarding schools, we get on with doing what’s useful and necessary to help students get the results they need and enjoy school. We get out of the way when it’s useful, we intervene when it will help. Years of experience enable us to know the difference, to know what will work. It may look different for every student. A small school size allows us this flexibility.
We’re as committed to supporting students for whom passing exams at grade C is a great achievement as we are to those aiming for A*s. We welcome everyone who has the desire and motivation to excel, not just those who have passed the 11+ or have a string of top grades at GCSE. We help turn things around when they haven't worked out in the past. We aim to ensure that no student, regardless of academic ability, is left lost, overlooked or let down.
Its relaxed learning environment is designed to provide a more mature and independent setting. With no bells ringing through the corridors at the end of each lesson, and tutors and students being on first name terms, this college is all about allowing students to take more responsibility for their own education. It also prepare students for the transition to university or the workplace by fostering a greater sense of responsibility and independence.
When we talk to our students at Rochester about future career plans, their roadmaps are colourfully more diverse than those of a generation ago. As well as those aiming to become doctors and lawyers, as many aspire to work in corporate branding and web marketing, as bloggers, vloggers, search engine optimisers, commercial semioticians, trend forecasters and social media influencers.
At RIC, while Maths remains our biggest A-level subject, followed by the Sciences, our students are increasingly making bold A-level and GCSE choices tailored to equip them for 21st-century careers and combining academics with creativity. Aiming for Sound Engineering at university? Match Music Technology with Maths and Physics. Fancy being a Fashion Designer? Why not try Textiles, Photography and Chemistry. Next generation directors and screenwriters might want to opt for A Levels in Film Studies with History of Art and English Literature.
While the atmosphere is informal they follow a traditional academic curriculum. The small class sizes and college feel means that despite its groovy first name credentials there’s no place to hide for would-be blue-tack flickers.
The school’s value-added credentials are noteworthy, particularly at A Level. But it’s not just about academic study here – creative arts share equal billing with those ‘traditional’ subjects.
1 / 4
