"the quality of education is outstanding." OFSTED, January 2008

This summer we celebrate 25 years of truly independently spirited education based around the needs of the individual in a happy, small school environment.  Rochester Independent College has evolved since 1984 into one of the UK's most well known and highly regarded alternatives to traditional independent education.

We focus on the highest levels of academic achievement while retaining a creative buzz. We provide first class GCSE and A level teaching, including successful retake programmes, to students aiming for highly competitive courses at top UK universities while also offering a lively and distinctive secondary education to children from the age of 11.  

Our reputation was first established through the excellence of our Mathematics and Science teaching and the fact many of our students achieved their ambitions to become doctors, veterinarians and dentists. We have expanded over 25 years and now have particular expertise in the Visual and Creative Arts, English, Film, Media, Astronomy and the Social Sciences.  

Many schools are large and impersonal, highly structured and long established but depressingly unimaginative and rigid. For many of our students RIC is the first place where they have been engaged by education and found the freedom to be themselves. We have over 200 students on roll and over 80 staff. 

No two people are alike. But many schools presume all students are the same, offer an overly prescriptive model of education and reward dull conformity.  RIC aims to be the antidote to a one size fits all approach to education.We encourage our students to follow their own enthusiasms, to choose freely from a wide range of subjects and offer a great deal of flexibility as to the programmes followed and the pace at which they learn. Students of all ages respond enthusiastically to high expectations of behaviour and achievement and to being treated as young adults. They achieve academically in a caring, small school, human scale environment without petty rules and structures but with a clear sense of purpose and a calm, disciplined atmosphere.  Students at RIC enjoy a highly personalised education that really delivers, growing up as independent thinkers with confidence, a sense of social responsibility and a set of skills that will allow them to flourish in the real world.

Rochester Independent College is accredited by the ISC (Independent Schools Council) and a member of the ISA (Independent Schools Association). 

Rochester Independent College was inspected by OFSTED in January 2008. 

The full report can be read here .  Highlights include: 

The quality of education is outstanding.

The quality of teaching and assessment is outstanding.

The quality of provision for students’ spiritual, moral and cultural education is outstanding. The development of students’ self knowledge, self esteem and self confidence are central to the College aims.

Behaviour is outstanding and classes are conducted in a mature learning environment. The quality of discussion and questioning during lessons is outstanding.

Provision for the welfare, health and safety of students is outstanding. This high standard of care contributes well to students’ outstanding personal development.

The quality of the curriculum is good with a number of outstanding features.

Working relationships are very good and teachers and students enjoy each other’s company. Teachers and students work within an atmosphere of mutual understanding, respect and consideration.

The good exam results achieved by students at both GCSE and advanced levels reflect their progress and the effective structures of support employed by the College.

The tutor system makes a significant contribution to students’ educational guidance and underpins their rapid progress.

Also praised were the College’s “well maintained” listed premises and accommodation, its policies and procedures and this website, described as “in many respects a model of good practice.”

The College was awarded a silver Artsmark from the Arts Council of England in 2009.

Stories about past students can be found on our quickly growing facebook alumni group page. 

Click here to access RIC's Photography pages on Flickr. 

Join the educational twitterati by becoming a follower of RIC here.