RIC students and staff will be taking part in a range of mindfulness and positive mental health activities this week in support of Children’s Mental Health Week which kicks off today. We are of course also still running our ‘RIC Around the World’ campaign, raising money for Young Minds.
Mission to Mars
Today some of our students attended the pre-launch of Mission to Mars. Set in the near future, Mission to Mars will be an innovative and imaginative online arts project. Through our virtual journey to a new world, we will am to better understand our own and our place in it. Especially, we aim explore the impact that lockdown has had on our lives over the past year, as well as our world.
Taking you virtually from bootcamp, to launch, to Mars landing, the Mission to Mars project will engage with big ideas of sustainability, social justice, isolation, uprootedness and belonging. Join us to develop the creative, academic and life skills to channel your current experiences into a research-based exploration of a near-future life on Mars. The project will span different creative arts – from theatre, to design, to music, to language – as we create content to share our Mission with the rest of the RIC community back on Earth.
RIC Photo of the Month: January
Our RIC Photo of the month is back and for January we kept the choice of two themes, this time – ‘Winter’ and ‘Colour’.
Well done to everyone who entered, all entries have been judged by our very own Michael Daks, under three categories – Lower School, Sixth Form and Staff it was a bit of fun for everyone, as well as a chance to get some fresh air at the same time – See the entries below.
You are all winners! Amazing to see the continuation of creativity within our RIC community.












Holocaust Memorial Day
Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day. Here is a short video you might want to watch – Our LS form groups will also be watching this within form time and completing activities adapted for discussion points around the topic.
RIC Around the World
Our Monday Motivation this week is RIC Around the world. Here at Rochester Independent College we are fundraising for Young Minds. We are challenging ourselves to travel the circumference of the Earth which is a whopping 24,901 miles!
All students and Staff will be partaking by running, jogging, walking, cycling and even skateboarding as far as they can to help us travel around the world! This includes our boarding students who are based in many countries around the world from Latvia to Japan.
We chose Young Minds as we are focusing a lot on Mental Health and Well-being during the very difficult times we find ourselves in. Taking care of your Mental Health is very important and the resources available through Young Minds for young people and their families are so valuable. Please help us in supporting this organisation so close to our students hearts.
You can donate here
Stay tuned for updates as we go along!
Parenting in a Pandemic
Top Tips to help you parent during a pandemicFear usually drives us to take urgent action, however, children can be really traumatised by fear so it is our job as adults to understand how to model overcoming fear, and how to help our children overcome their fear.
Engaging Learning Experiences
The Science Museum is running a FREE online course on “Creating Engaging Learning Experiences” aimed for primary and secondary.
There is also a FREE make and create Bubble Geometry course for Primary school level for those with bored kids at home or maybe could be something fun to work into Lower School.
DATES:
28 January – 16:00-17:00
25 February – 13:30-14:30
25 March – 16:00-17:00
To book a place please visit their website HERE
Exciting News
You know how people are always saying “I’m going to write a book” or indeed “I’m writing a book”, but then it never gets finished or you realise it’s rubbish or you realise you’ve got literally no good ideas?
Well, one of our Year 11s has done it and it’s on Amazon! … Let’s all support him by buying a copy, an ideal stocking filler for Christmas.
Well done to Martin! – You Can Find It Here
Celebrating the European Language Day
On Friday 25th of September we decorated the school with posters as always, the Graphics department provided us with one made by students. There were also some prints of poems, tongue twisters and riddles In different languages on the walls, to encourage the students to pronounce different sounds.
Kent Artist Profile: Inside Kent
Today we received a printed copy of Inside Kent Magazine (October Issue) featuring a Q&A about one of our Graphics & Photography teachers Sarah. The article which showcases some of her many freelance projects as a Graphic Designer & Illustrator also includes a little bit about why she chose to pursue her career in teaching and her background in the subject. You can find it online here (Page 8-9) in its digital form, as well as inside printed copies which can be found in various venues around Kent.