|
|
|
|
News from New Road House
Lower School Activity Week
by Caz Holden
 Our year 7-9's had a great time during their activity week back in September. Below is a photo of Haitham, Temi, Hannah, Milo and Alex at Shorne Country Park. It was a team building day and they made small camps and lit a fire. They cooked a 'damper' over the fire and then toasted marshmallows.
They also made kites and flew them over at Jacksons field. Sam Maddocks year 9 and Ethan Anderson, year 7 are pictured left - great to see our year groups together.
On the last day they went to Eagle Heights and saw a super bird flying display.
|
|
Election fever hits Rochester
by Dominik Klimowski
 Robert Capa, one of the best press photographers ever, once said “If your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”.
He wasn’t telling us to use our zoom lenses more, but to physically place ourselves in the thick of the action. That is exactly what RIC A-level and GCSE Photography students did over the days when Rochester became big news. The Rochester and Strood by-election meant all eyes, and lenses, were on the town, in anticipation of, and subsequent victory by the UK Independence Party.
As UKIP were effectively the centre of attention, students made their way to the UKIP shop in Rochester High Street, keeping their eyes and shutters open along the way, documenting the mood around town as voters went to the polls in what would be a crucial election. Once outside UKIP headquarters they were given a lesson in press photography, by observing, and subsequently competing with, dozens of reporters and photographers from national newspapers and agencies.
In between documenting highlights of the day (an appearance by UKIP leader Nigel Farage, a demonstrator burning a UKIP badge), the students engaged in insightful and well-articulated discussion and debate with members of UKIP, often at UKIP’s request.
An exciting and eventful experience, with RIC Photography students not only making their mark by documenting the news, but by expressing their opinions directly, and in turn listening to what others had to say. They did themselves, and their college, proud.
A-Level Photography student Joe Sutton beat the rest of the Press pack by having one of his photos chosen to appear on the BBC Twitter feed. Well done, Joe.
|
|
English Literature Trip to Strawberry Hill
by David Thornthwaite
Gothic literature usually conjures images of bleak and cheerless settings; dark forests and blasted heaths, ruined abbeys and forbidding fortresses. So it was with some surprise that the year 13 A level English Literature class discovered the origins of gothic literature in a leafy, west London suburb. Horace Walpole, author of The Castle of Otranto, built his house at Strawberry Hill in Twickenham in the 18th century, in tribute to the medieval world that so fascinated him. Walpole, the wealthy youngest son of the first Prime Minister, filled the house with medieval fittings and artefacts, some original pieces that he collected, others 18th century reproductions, made to his own design. It was here that he experienced a nightmare, induced by one of his many suits of armour, which inspired him to write The Castle of Otranto and conceive the popular and enduring gothic genre of literature.
 As gothic literature is one of the major topics that we study at the college, a trip to Walpole’s still splendid house seemed an excellent way to spend a day. So in November, in unseasonably good weather, we travelled across London to Strawberry Hill. The house did not disappoint, with its curious and delightful mixture of extravagantly decorated rooms, faux-medieval trappings and halls and passages, many in the semi-darkness that Walpole called “gloomth”. The staff at Strawberry Hill provided students with an excellent tour of the house and a discussion of gothic literature; we owe them grateful thanks for their warm welcome and wealth of knowledge on all matters Walpole-related. We finished the day with readings from several gothic texts, including Walpole’s own Otranto in the especially “gloomthy” library. The students very much enjoyed the day and have taken away a better understanding of the gothic genre and memories of a most unusual and striking house.
|
|
A2 Photography trips
by Dominik Klimowski
The A2 Photography students visited London for the day, taking in the Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, followed by The Photographers’ Gallery in the afternoon.
In between they took as many photographs as they could while on the streets, paying particular attention to the people and their surroundings. A curious eye and a fast trigger finger were essential requirements for the day.
|
|
‘In film and photography the golden hour (sometimes known as the magic hour) is a period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is warmer and softer compared to when the sun is higher in the sky.’
On Thursday afternoon, November 20th, A-level Film and Photography students took the train to Whitstable for a much-needed change in scenery to use in the development of their coursework projects. It was a cold but bright day, perfect for those dedicated enough to spend all their time outdoors in the fresh air, waiting, observing, and composing the shots they wanted. As the ‘golden hour’ approached, students made the most of the light and the landscape, and returned to Rochester with plenty of raw material ‘in the can’. We look forward to seeing the results later in the term.
|
|
Year 11 Geography field trip
by Nadine Whaymand
 On Thursday 13th November, 2014, a group of 13 fearless year 11 students embarked on a journey to the River Darent to gather data for their GCSE Geography Controlled Assessment. Armed with ranging poles, tape measures, sediment traps, flow meters, callipers and a clinometer, the students battled against the rising depth of the River Darent in Sevenoaks to gather data from experiments such as river channel cross section, velocity, wetted perimeter and soil infiltration rate to name a few.
 We were absolutely delighted by the level of participation from students, as all happily waded into the shallow depths, demonstrating strong team work and communication skills. RIC students demonstrated strong levels of resilience at the final site at Shoreham as the river current gained strength and their wellingtons became submerged with the cold fresh water and silt sediments, and the heavens opened releasing a steady downpour on our group. All students welcomed the warmth offered by RIC premises on their return with open arms, shared with laughter of their experience of the day, and enthusiastic chatter about how the experience solidified their understanding. Overall, an excellent day, well done all!
BREAKING NEWS Head of Geography, Richard Blood has formed a new Medway branch of the Geographical Association. Look out for more details in the next edition of The Flying Pig.
|
|
RIC Bitesize Year 7 Taster Days
This term we held three taster days for prospective year 7s which were enjoyed by all. Our year 5 and 6 visitors spent a fun and educational day at RIC - Drama with Deb, Science with Richard, Film with Nicki and Mat and Art with Robin and Carmel. Lunchtime included the fantastic Maths challenge with Helene and Tom where they solved the puzzles to search all around the school for hidden treasure! Special thanks to Tom and Pamela, our gap year students for a great job as guides.
If you know anyone who might be interested in visiting us for a lower school taster day then please let them know the new dates 14 January, 11 February, 11 March 2015.
For more information please click here.
|
|
Drama 'Super Trip'
By Laith Azzee, Year 13
The drama ‘super trip’ was both educational and enjoyable. Our journey began with a trip to the V’and A museum where we spent an hour looking at the Russian Avant-Garde theatre: war, revolution and design 1913-1933 exhibition where we had the opportunity to view many historical theatre set plans and costumes, even managing to try some on ourselves. Afterwards we made our way to the British Museum where we looked at ancient Greek monuments, pottery and also got a private viewing of a room that contained historical artefacts showing war. The British museum helped us gain a better understanding of the Ancient Greek culture and history, allowing us to incorporate this into our creative adaptation of the ancient Greek myth Tithonus.
Finally we went to the Gielgud Theatre to watch The Curious Incident of The Dog in the night-time as it was also a creative adaptation. The whole experience helped us with our research of Ancient Greece, get a better understanding of the history of Theatre and view a play that uses our chosen style.
|
|
International student news
by Sue Cooper
27 September
First English trip of the year was to the ever fascinating Dover Castle. Touring the tunnels with the brilliant recreations and commentary explaining their role in World War Two was engrossing. The castle kitchens also provided great insights into day to day life in Medieval times - and of the value of yeast which was viewed as a great gift. The students enjoyed wandering around discovering the life of the Castle through the ages.
28 October
 A select group of EFLies visited Professor Mark Miodownik's evening talk as part of the Canterbury Festival. Two of the students were sufficiently fascinated to invest in his book and have a quick chat with him while he signed it for them. Fascinating fact of the talk entitled 'Stuff Matters', was a theory that in Western societies we developed lager as a drink because, although pretty undrinkable unless really cold, it looks particularly good in a glass. While further East, traditionally drinks are imbibed from vessels made of more opaque stuff such as porcelain and in such societies therefore, the implicit argument seems to be, people are rather more in touch with their tastebuds. And thus do the materials we use have a far wider impact on different societies than you might think. (We also of course, would've been a bit slower off the mark with astrophysics or microbiology without glass, but first things first...)
29 November
Finding out that Darwin was married to someone of fervent Christian beliefs was a revelation. They lived together extremely happily apparently, respecting each other's views although Mrs D's deepest fear was that because her husband was such a heretic they might not be forever together in the after life. The house has been restored as it would have been in Darwin's time and its atmosphere as a happy family home is palpable. The old mulberry tree apparently much loved by the whole family still survives despite a rather misguided effort to help it stand up by pouring concrete into its core in the sixties. We hope to go back in March when they have night time star gazing evenings in the garden. The lovely guide who greeted us was so pleased to have such a great bunch of students that he offered a deal on English Heritage membership and the students are all now entitled to free entry to all English heritage sites for a year and a quarter. We shall take full advantage of that next term and indeed started off by adding an impromptu visit to the lovely Lullingstone Roman Villa that afternoon where every effort was made to try to work out the rules of the Roman equivalent of backgammon.
|
|
Japanese Tea
 Wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature.
Year 7s and 8s learned about this and the ancient Japanese Tea Ceremony at a pottery workshop in the art room.
 The students made their own teabowls using the pinch technique then had a mini tea ceremony. The students learned about all the authentic equipment including a real Japanese teabowl, bamboo tea whisk called a chasen, tea scoop (chashaku) and authentic Japanese matcha green tea which was very bitter!
We also ran this workshop for the pupils at Dulwich Prep School as part of their 2014 arts week.
|
|
Easter Revision Courses at RIC
This is our 30th year offering GCSE, AS and A2 revision courses during the Easter holidays in a wider range of subjects for students at other local schools. Next year the dates will be:
6-10 April and 13-17 April 2015
If you know anyone who might be interested in these courses then please pass on the information or click here.
“A huge thank you! Our daughter thoroughly enjoyed her GCSE maths revision sessions, both easter and part-time. Although nervous to start with, all went well in the end. She met some lovely people and it proved to be a totally positive experience”. Parent of Easter student 2013
|
|
Garden Gold
Once again our gardens have won a coveted Kent Wildlife Trust gold award. Here's an excerpt from the feedback:
‘Thank you for taking the time to show me your ‘oasis of a garden’ and to explain the philosophy of the school, in relation to the grounds. It was a delight to sit under the majestic yew tree, see the students calmly walk past with the stream trickling down the garden and birds singing. You certainly have developed a haven for birds, insects and plants.
|
|
West End Theatre Production comes to RIC
The superb 'Trials of Oscar Wilde’ came to Underhill Hall directly from it's West End run at Trafalgar Studios in Whitehall on 13 November 2014. The European Arts Company chose RIC for the very last performance of their tour of the much acclaimed play with the complete original cast.
Click here for more information and photos of the night taken by our very own official photographer Joe Sutton.
|
|
Shakespeare Workshop
by David Thornthwaite
Gurpreet Bains, Dory Blackmore, Libby Morrell and drama assistant Pamela Farrugia
No words are so widely or so well known as the more famous passages from William Shakespeare's plays. But how much do we know about how they would have been performed in Shakespeare’s theatre? Students in year 12 are well placed to answer that question, after our October Shakespeare workshop. Director and Shakespearean actor Peter Craze and playwright John O’Connor very kindly came into college to give our students a crash course in Renaissance theatrical practice. Four centuries of different interpretations and conventions have altered the way that Shakespeare's are interpreted by performers and directors. This workshop took students back to a different way of learning and performing theatrical dialogue. To test this new knowledge out, the students performed monologues from a range of Shakespeare’s plays and then part of act V, scene iii, from Romeo and Juliet. Peter teaches Shakespeare at UCLA and Berkeley in the summer, so as well as giving Drama students an opportunity to work with a professional director, it was a stimulating and informative day for those taking English Literature too.
Aaron Young and Georgina Mills
In the students’ own words…
“We got a detailed description of the background of Shakespearean comedy”. Tom Weston
“In this Shakespeare workshop we looked at several soliloquies and scenes that we acted out.” Flynn Silby
“We used ‘que-scripts’ just like actors in Shakespearean times.” Connor Davies
“It was great to act out some of the things that we learned about in English lessons, such as Dogberry’s malapropisms in Much Ado About Nothing.” Dory Blackmore.
“Like actors in Shakespeare’s time, we performed without rehearsing. This was easiest for those playing the dead bodies.” George Hambly
“I learnt that dead bodies are not allowed to lie down with their legs crossed!” Robin Clementson
“The workshop on Shakespeare helped me really tap into the meaning of his comedies.” Akin Wright
“Some written things can be appreciated more when performed, such as the rhythm of Shakespeare’s words and verses.” Libby Morell
|
|
Acclaimed BBC Photographer visits RIC
by Dominik Klimowski
Tricia Yourkevich has one of the busiest schedules and tightest deadlines of any photographer. She is currently the picture editor and photographer for BBC Audio and Music, having cut her teeth on BBC iPlayer when it was in its infancy. Lucky RIC Photography and Media students were treated to a talk about her work in Cambria.
For a full write-up click here to visit the RIC Visual Arts Blog.
|
|
Drama workshop: Naturalism
by Lisa-Nicole Lhermette, Year 13
On Monday the 3rd of November,Year 12 and 13 drama classes underwent a Naturalism Workshop which was led by John O’Connor, of the European Arts Company. Naturalism is a movement in European theatre which developed in the 19th Century which has been advocated by practitioners such as Constantin Stanislavski, Anton Chekhov. Starting off the workshop with a number of warm-ups we soon indulged in one of Chekhov’s plays, ‘Uncle Vanya’. Taking an extract of the play we formed groups of three and initially mimed the scene in order to physically convey the emotions of the characters. We then read our lines aloud, beforehand saying our objectives in order to clarify our goals for the scene. Overall it was a an enjoyable learning experience that has strengthened our knowledge of Naturalism as we put into practice what we learnt with John and in lessons with Deb.
|
|
Staff News
New babies all round with two born on the very same day - 15 September to members of RIC staff! Kelly’s baby, Theo, arrived at 12.04 weighing in at 8lb 14oz, 2 days early and Sonia’s baby, Mia, arrived at 7.15 am, weighing in at 7lb 14 oz, 5 days late! Also, french teach Hema had twin girls back in May and Ellen, the bursar got married on 25 October. Congratulations to all.
|
|
And finally...
 15th-century nativity scene by Paolo Schiavo Corbis
The Christmas story according to (Head of Art) Kelly's little boy Sebastian:
S: Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem and Joseph had to pull a camel. They
slept in a stable with sheep, cats and dogs. Baby Jesus went to sleep
in a manger and three kings came to visit him. One was from Africa and
he rode on a lion. One was from India and he rode an elephant. The
other one was from Paris. They brought presents for Jesus but one was
busted; it had been opened just a little bit - it had baby clothes in it!"
K: Did anyone else come?
S : Yes there was an angel called Gabriel. Oh no I will have to start
again.
K : Yes because she came to tell Mary she was having a baby didn't she?
S :How do you know????
|
|
Have a great holiday!
Spring term starts Tuesday 6th January 2015
RIC Term dates
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
