Ric English 1
Teaching0096A Min
Sport20lesson0186a
Icon Testimonials
Independent Schools Inspectorate

The subject knowledge of teaching staff recruited by the senior management team is excellent and teachers share the vision that the team has created. All show a strong commitment to the success of the college. The creation of a friendly community which enables students to realise their potential is the focus of all staff.

Independent Schools Inspectorate

The strength of any school is the quality of its staff. At RIC there is very little turn over, ensuring consistency. At RIC you'll be taught by specialist teachers, many of whom are also examiners. Some have Master's level qualifications and PhDs or are continuing to work towards them, helping to sustain a lively academic and creative environment. They know that not everyone learns in the same way and are adept at devising strategies to help you learn effectively. Our teaching style is positive, enthusiastic and encouraging.

Many of our teachers are also textbook authors, artists, film makers and musicians. Students are prepared for their GCSEs and A levels with help from professionals who are really in the know about what is required.

Scroll down for just a small selection of the teaching talent or click here for the full staff list. If you'd like to join our team watch out for vacancies here or be brazenly and creatively speculative and send us your CV.

Ric Mentoring
Ric Music Lesson
Img 3877
Ian Pay

Vice Principal Ian Pay attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys and graduated from Lancaster University with a First Class degree. His Master's degree is in Contemporary British History. He joined RIC in 2010, teaches Politics and History across the College and has led both the Lower School and the Sixth Form. Ian helps oversee over 100 UCAS applications each year, including many to Oxford, Cambridge, medicine, dentistry and vet science as well as leading art and film schools.

Ian says: "Sixth form students meet with their designated Personal Tutor every few weeks and this affords a great opportunity to discuss subject choices, progress, academic and career aspirations and any concerns that may have cropped up. As the academic year progresses, attention in these meetings turns to exam preparation and revision strategies."

1612878424008

Senior Vice Principal Kelly Flatman is a Graphic Designer and has worked in most departments in the College since joining in 2001 including leading the Art department, the Lower School, working as a sixth form personal tutor and being closely involved in the College's admissions, promotional and marketing activities. Kelly says: “My main passion is typography in design and I love to explore ideas for my own work in a variety of media such as textile design and photography as well as traditional and contemporary methods of production. My work encompasses the concept of order and balance, with an emphasis on the aesthetic value of the colour, form and texture of simple everyday objects and structures - a most recent project being based on the shapes and patterns found in road drains and manhole covers in London! I love to cook and bake, have an obsession with Italy and interior design and am forever on the hunt for antique furniture bargains! Though two young and energetic children like to keep me on my toes I continue to be a keen netballer, having previously played at county and UK Premier League level.”

6f TGWE8t 400x400

Vice Principal (Lower School) Leighton Bright attended Gravesend Grammar and graduated from Reading University in 2000 with a degree in English Literature and Language before working in the financial services sector for 10 years. He went on to train as an English teacher in 2010. Leighton completed his Masters in Education and is also RIC’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator. Leighton says of the Lower School: “We take a holistic approach to the delivery of a diverse curriculum underpinned by a breadth of creative subjects. This promotes emotional intelligence and independent decision making and enables students to become disciplined and confident. Timetabled lessons are complemented by a range of extra curricular activities, specialist theme weeks, trips and events. While academic progress is essential and carefully monitored we work with our students on an individual level providing them with a comfortable, caring and fun environment in which they can thrive.” Read his article on Diversity in Independent Education here. Leighton is often the first member of staff prospective Lower School students and their families meet when visiting RIC.

Muddystilettos
Muddy Stilettos

The average class size is a lipsmackingly small 8 (maximum 12).

Muddy Stilettos
Economics0664a copy
Ric Graphics Ls 2
Business0549A

Dr Kamila Pawlikowska teaches English, Sociology and Psychology. She studied Sociology at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun (Poland) and Comparative Literature at the University of Kent at Canterbury, where she later taught literature, sociology and cultural studies. Her PhD in Comparative Literature was published as Anti-Portraits: Poetics of the Face in English, Polish and Russian Literature. She has recently completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship in Tokyo where she was a British Academy / Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Fellow and studied the perceptions of Japan in Europe. Her interests include images of the human body and face in literature and visual arts, cross-national literature, intercultural communication, Japanese culture and language, and global education. This year Kamila was a visiting lecturer for a month at Penn State University in the USA.

Lisa Herron

Head of Film and Media Lisa Herron joined RIC in 2001 and is also a senior personal tutor. She says: "Film Studies at RIC is a Good Schools Guide Award winning subject at both GCSE and A level. Combining academic and practical work including screen writing and film journalism these A levels and GCSEs are an exciting alternative to more traditional subjects. The teaching provided by College tutors is supplemented by visiting speakers and industry practitioners." Lisa has a BA (Hons) in Film and Art History from Middlesex and an MA in Film from UEA. She worked as a journalist and producer of educational multimedia software before becoming a teacher and has written educational resources and magazine articles for the English and Media Centre. Her key interests are gender and identity theory and film spectatorship.

Andy Smith 2

Andy Smith, Head of Computer Science and IT, joined RIC having previously taught in one of Kent’s outstanding grammar schools. As well as a first degree in Computer Science, he has a Masters Degree in Internet Technology with distinction. His master's thesis was on web app development. Andy is an enthusiastic advocate for leading and bleeding edge tech that improves the planet. He has friends who build commercial robots such as Earth Rover and has taken students on visits to their HQ. Andy enjoys the ‘archaeology of technology’ and learning about bleeding edge tech. He enthuses his students to understand the historical developments in computing from the Antikythera mechanism to D-Wave quantum computers. One of our fun annual trips is to The National Museum Of Computing where we get to explore milestones in retro tech and discuss the future of computing.

Outside of college, Andy uses technology as a musician and producer and is one half of a Kent based post punk electro dance duo Feral Five. As well as regular appearances on BBC6 Music, he has performed in venues as varied as The National Portrait Gallery in London, England and The Funkhaus in Berlin, Germany. He has been a judge for Music Tech Fest and was a nominee for an award from the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Creative Media for his sound tech idea for Rijeka Airport. He is also a trustee of an education charity in Greenwich, UK.

Fran1

After studying printed textiles at Middlesex Art College RIC's Francesca Baur worked as a freelance textile designer for some years in London, as well as training to teach textile design. This year she held an exhibition of her unique natural hand-printed textiles at Rochester Art Gallery as the culmination of a year-long project supported by Arts Council England. Whitstable-based Francesca’s trademark, eco-friendly local textiles, employ traditional skills, from growing the flax for linen to seasonal foraging and making natural plant dyes.

Francesca is currently working on a project for the Channel 4 programme Building the Dream designing fabrics for a house being built in Barham, Kent. At RIC Francesca teaches GCSE and A level Textiles and has supported students in applications to top courses including Fashion Design Menswear at Central Saint Martin's and Costume for Theatre and Screen at Wimbledon College of Arts.

S200 michael daks

Head of Photography Michael Daks joined RIC in 2017 from Paris College of Art (formerly Parsons Paris, the French Annex of Parsons New School.) He was formerly Senior Lecturer in Photography at Southampton Solent University and Visiting Professor at the Istituto Marangoni, Paris. Michael has worked as a fashion and portrait photographer in London, Paris, Milan and NYC, with clients including The New York Times Magazine, Untitled Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. His short film 'The Butterfly Collector' has now been viewed online over 1 million times. Michael's portraits of Dennis Potter and Kenneth Branagh are in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery in London. His fashion work for BLITZ magazine was recently exhibited at the ICA in London, and published in the book 'As Seen in Blitz- Fashioning 80s Style.'

Icon International2
Apiwat Chantanibul, Thailand

When I started my course at Rochester Independent College I was surprised by the size of the class and its friendly atmosphere. I would never have thought that teachers and students could be so relaxed and yet maintain the effectiveness of the class. RIC is a great choice if you want to learn English and go to a prestigious university.

Apiwat Chantanibul, Thailand
Ric Danny

Danny Cheung came to RIC from Hong Kong in 2004 to study English and work as a chef. The College quickly realised that Danny was as adept at algebra as he was at cooking so he attended A level classes while continuing to work in our catering team. Post A levels, RIC awarded Danny a full scholarship to allow him to stay in the UK and study at university. After graduating from City University, London with a first-class degree in Mechanical Engineering Danny then rejoined the College, working in the classrooms rather the kitchens.

Danny says: “I teach at RIC as I remember being taught, sometimes in exactly the same rooms! Maths here is not reading out from power point presentations or following text book chapters in a linear way. Demonstration questions are usually made up on the spot by teachers and we talk through the steps as we write the solutions, asking students to check answers or spot mistakes. This trains them to spot silly errors and how to check their own answers in exam conditions. Maths at RIC challenged me to think rigorously. We have very small classes and students can access individual help easily. With Further Maths particularly, students have to do a lot of exam paper and problem-solving practice.”

The newest member of the Maths teaching team is jazz pianist and Oxford University Maths graduate Rob Dimbleby. Rob joined RIC straight after graduating in 2018. As well as working as a solo artist Robert is an active keyboardist, performing regularly at gigs across the country. Recent gigs include Ronnie Scott’s and SoFar sounds with 7piece neo-soul group Pangolin and a European tour with NME top 100 band Patawawa.

Rob says: “The main reason Further Maths is useful for maths at university is because it really requires the students to thoroughly understand the theories and concepts at a very fundamental level as the exam questions delve deeply into specific concepts. One way that I help the students to achieve this level of understanding is by always offering rigorous proofs of the theories that they will be using in the course, even if the proofs are beyond the syllabus, and guiding them through this process of proving things so that they get used to the logical thinking required for this kind of rigorous approach. University level maths very much takes this approach of proving everything step by step, making no unnecessary assumptions, so I think it is useful for the higher level students to get used to this way of thinking.

Rob is a contributor to RIC's Philotimaths youtube channel, devoted to fighting mathematical problems one step at a time.

Physics 8950
Ric Biology

Teaching Chemistry at RIC is Dr Sophie Hilton whose medical research was based around the design of enzyme inhibitors. Sophie says: "Working at RIC is like a breath of fresh air, the small classes and the fact that the students are very well behaved and want to succeed means I can convey my enthusiasm for Chemistry and turn my attention to every student. Chemistry is a hard subject but it is so interesting and it offers openings to great careers. I really hope that at the end of the course, the students studying Chemistry at RIC will feel the same way as I do about the subject."

Imperial College graduate Paul Dutton has been Head of Physics since 2003. The department is hoping to repeat the successful trip to Tenerife where the A level Astrophysics module was taught to a group of sixth formers from Rochester, using the resources of the famous observatory there. This year a group of A level students visited The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford to take part in a Particle Physics masterclass. We are also planning a trip to CERN in Switzerland for A level Physicists.

Paul says: "The College attracts very high quality science students from both the UK and overseas who complete A levels, often in a year from scratch, and proceed to university."

Teaching Biology at RIC is Dr Jon Sullivan who says: "Small-group teaching, lots of hands-on practicals, time for discussion around the syllabus topics and six hours of teaching every week by specialist teachers (eight hours for a one-year course). That's science A Levels at RIC. We don't just teach you the syllabus requirements, we encourage you to explore the subject, both in lessons and by pointing you towards resources which will widen your knowledge and excite your interest. We have plenty of time to complete the theory and required practicals, plus extra practical experience in the lab and on the field course, as well as ensuring your exam technique is really up to scratch to help you achieve the best grade you can."

Alevelpol Web
Art0688A Min
Lschris Copy

The arts are central to the Lower School and students from Year 7 up have the opportunity to explore fashion and textiles, digital multimedia arts and photography as well as ceramics, fine art and design. Joining Lower School art teacher Carmel Park is former RIC student Joe Becci. Joe was in fact one of the College’s first Lower School students, taking GCSEs and A levels before studying at the University of the Arts. Joe is an illustrator and concept artist with an undying love for drawing fantastical characters, weird creatures and the worlds they inhabit! His website can be seen here.

Film and Media teacher and Co Head of Sixth Form Nicki Komorowski has taught at RIC since 2008. Outside of College, Nikki is a photographer and has been involved in making promotional films for local schools and authoring educational resources and courses including an education pack for Shorne Woods and 'Streetwise' - an educational resource for the 'Clean Kent Campaign.'

Nicki says of her work as a Film Studies examiner: "It helps me to teach the students how to think like an examiner in order to review their own essay writing skills and explain what the enigmatic mark scheme actually means to students and teach them how to think like an examiner in order to review their own essay writing skills."

In 2019 Nicki introduced A level Digital Media and Design to the College.

Mark Young joined RIC in 2018 and currently teaches A-Level Digital Media, GCSE Film Studies and Lower School Film & Media. He is also our online safety guru being a CEOP Ambassador and also running the Digital Leaders Programme. Mark graduated with a BA Hons in Film Studies from Derby and went on to gain a PGCE from the UCL Institute of Education. Outside of teaching, Mark is an experienced independent filmmaker. His first feature film, East 3, a documentary exploring life in the arctic, was broadcast on UK television in 2010 and 2011 and debuted at a film festival in New York. East 3 was filmed in the remote Arctic town of Inuvik. He has also produced many short films and music videos, some of which were broadcast on UK television and screened at over 30 film festivals worldwide. He is currently in production with his second feature film, an experimental documentary called Trip - an ambitious audio-visual poetical soundscape. Mark also creates poetry and soundtracks under the name of 7th Adventure Recordings, releasing a poetry collection called Secret and Gold. Mark has also created video content for a wide range of companies and charities. When not teaching or creating Mark is a football fan supporting both Norwich City and non-league side Lordswood FC. He currently sits on the board as Community Officer at Lordswood FC. Find out more about Mark’s film projects here www.mryoungfilmmaker.com.

Explore more in this section