“Boarders receive excellent support, both academically and pastorally. They are looked after by a motivated team who in turn are very well supported by senior management.”
ofsted boarding inspection 2010
RIC’s residential community is overseen by one of the College Principals, Pauline Bailey as Head of Boarding. Assistant Head of Boarding is Maeva Elliott. Pauline and Maeva act as Personal Tutors to all of our residential students and, as parents of teenagers themselves, are well suited to supporting students who are living away from home, often for the first time. Pauline and Maeva both have a background in teaching English as a Foreign Language and have welcomed students from all over the world to Rochester.
A committed team of staff are responsible for the day to day running of the boarding led by Boarding Team Supervisor Gary Castle and Boarding Assistant Carole Castle. Gary’s background is in the armed forces and has for many years been responsible for organising an exciting programme of trips and visits for boarding students. Gary is a keen sportsman and has been involved in transatlantic sailing events as well as marathon running.
Julie Brooks and Danny Cheung are also Boarding Assistants. Julie recently returned from Africa where she led RIC’s first World Challenge expedition to Malawi and Zambia. Danny is one of the cooks in ‘Chesters’ the College refectory and a Maths teaching assistant. He juggles his RIC responsibilities with studying Engineering at City University.
Ammy Bjerkan is the College Nurse. Ammy is closely involved with the boarding students, responsible for their medical welfare and on hand to help differentiate between genuine illness and students who just don’t want to get out of bed in the morning! Ammy also contributes to the programme of Personal, Health and Social Education across the College. Also present in the boarding houses are a team of academic staff who act as Resident Tutors and provide additional supervision and often homework help in the evenings! The resident staff also organise a range of evening and weekend trips and activities including climbing, theatre trips, cinema visits and shopping!
New Boarding Assistant Matt Plumb has a degree in PE and Sport from Greenwich University. He comes to RIC from The Arethusa Venture Centre, Rochester where he worked as an instructor teaching climbing, archery, high ropes and kayaking. He has run the London Marathon twice, in support of Shaftesbury Young People.
The independent listener Gerry Pammet is available to speak to residential students about any worries they may have.
The College employs staff who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, Italian, French, German, Spanish and Slovak to help meet the needs of its international students.