School named ‘Top Independent School for Excellence and Innovation in Fine Arts’ from the Independent Schools Association (ISA)

Rochester Independent College (RIC) on Star Hill is celebrating winning the coveted award ‘Top Independent School for Excellence and Innovation in Fine Arts’ from the Independent Schools Association (ISA).

The college was selected from the 569 independent schools in the UK. Staff from the department attended the awards ceremony in Coventry where the results were announced.

The judges said: “The judges were impressed with the huge range of ways in which Rochester Independent College values, promotes and gives profile to the arts and considered the College an inspiration to the whole sector. The link between an aesthetic appreciation of the visual arts and personal development runs through all aspects of school life and is highly valued by the whole school community.”

RIC- A school that has the visual and creative arts at the heart of its identity

RIC is a school where the centrality of the arts is evidenced by a curriculum which treats art as core subject from year 7 to 9, and then offers a wide range of GCSE and A level endorsements ranging from Textiles and Photography to Graphic Design and Ceramics.

RIC- A school where students and staff are innovative, prize winning artists

During this difficult year, RIC has been helping students and staff find creative pathways to better wellbeing, running for example therapeutic pottery workshops for staff and students to help them feel centred and grounded as well as online art competitions for students during lockdown to help sustain a sense of community. At RIC we are constantly refreshing the way we deliver the creative and visual arts.

In 2019 it introduced the Cambridge International A Level Digital Media & Design qualification and it has quickly become one of the most popular arts subjects, allowing us to inspire and prepare the digital natives and creatives of the future. Student projects ranged from an immersive digital experience for a museum to a social media campaign for a streetwear label. Digital Arts are now part of the curriculum from year 7 up and includes digital photography, moving image through film and animation, and mobile and multimedia applications including games design.

Just as teaching has had to respond in innovative ways to the pandemic and the circumstances of lockdown, so has the artwork of students. Two students were runners up in the ISA National Arts Awards in the 2D Key Stage 4 and 5 categories and two students had work selected to hang in The Royal Academy 2021 Young Artists’ Summer Show. One Year 13 student was the winner of the Hobbycraft Artist of the Year Award (Student Category) for her self-portrait made in response to the challenging times.

Artist Barbara Murray said of her work: “The desire to inject colour into a time of fear, frustration and conflicting emotion is perfectly portrayed in this dramatic and heartfelt work full of tension, texture and disbelief in what life has become.”
Another student won the animation prize in the ISA Filmand Digital Art Competition for, in the words of judges, “a raw, disturbing animation about the mental health challenges of lockdown.”

In the ISA (London South) competition nine RIC students won, were runners up or were highly commended in categories ranging from 2D Key Stage 4, 2D Key Stage 5, 3D Key Stage 5, Textiles Key Stage 4 and 5 and Photography Key Stage 5.

Another of the students won the top prize in the 2021 Boarding Schools Association Khadija Saye Photography Award, impressing judges with a collection of images titled ‘Brighton Murder Mystery’, imagining a narrative that would be fitting for a Woody Allen film. Calling it ‘an attention-grabbing concept’ the judges praised the ‘filmic quality’ of the shots as well as their ‘sense of brooding mystery and ‘excellent technical details.’

RIC- A school whose stated aims commit it to supporting the community with a particular focus on the arts.

Illustrator Ralph Steadman has given his name to the College’s arts scholarship competition. In September 2020 it awarded the third of these which comprise of a two-year full scholarship for A levels at RIC to a local student with outstanding creative potential who otherwise would not be able to access independent education.

RIC uses community hubs to showcase student artwork. There is an annual summer show and exhibition at local gallery spaces. ISI comment: “Pupils engage with and contribute to the local community through projects such as the attractive murals at Rochester railway station. Pupils’ artwork is displayed at numerous venues around the town, and at the Summer Festival pupils perform music and drama pieces to parents and guests from the wider community.” RIC students curate the photography hanging in the local Pizza Express and in a local barber’s shop.

RIC is developing a new student village with 100 rooms on Rochester High Street and this will include a gallery and exhibition space for both student and community work. This flagship development will complement the Heritage Action Zone that surrounds it, aiming to help the recovery of the local high streets, from regenerating historic buildings to helping to engage local communities through art and cultural projects. RIC’s commitment to the arts is embodied by a landmark public art sound sculpture- The Flying Pig Musical Gates- that were commissioned from a local artist to form the campus entrance.

The Good Schools Guide, reviewing RIC, said: “It would be hard to find better provision for the artistically inclined.”

https://rochester-college.org/study-with-us/creative-arts/intro