RTC Community

Tunbridge Wells Social Mobility

Integrity, passion, accountability and community focus have always been at the core of RTC’s organisational values.  Our unwavering drive to make premium tuition available to an ever-broadening Kent community, demonstrates our firm commitment to these core values. The launch of our Tunbridge Wells Centre in April 2014 also marked the start of several key social mobility initiatives that have changed many young lives over the past 10 years and, we believe, continue to make a meaningful contribution to our local community.  RTC also plays a major part in a number of partnerships and community projects, across Kent, in the quest to help close the Grammar School gap.

We get to see, first hand, the immense benefits that a child can gain from a more personalised approach to education. Premium tutoring has the reputation of ‘only for the privileged few’.  We address this sometimes valid opinion through our small group model which allows us to offer competitive rates for classes, and we have pro bono classes that offer free education to children from less advantaged backgrounds. RTC Tunbridge Wells award Primary and Secondary-level scholarships to those in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM) as well as children who sit just outside the free school meal bracket. These Tunbridge Wells sponsored spaces are not offered based on academic ability but financial circumstances and a desire to learn.

RTC Tonbridge – Horizons

RTC started what has become a formidable partnership with Tonbridge Grammar School (TGS) in January 2019.  Through our combined strengths and shared values, we are taking the determined stance of tackling the Grammar School gap from within.

Horizons is a free programme of 11+ support to local Kent children in Years 4 and 5.  Each year, children are put forward for the Horizons Programme by the Headteachers of more than 35 participating Kent Primary Schools.  The entrance criteria for the Horizons Programme is that children show clear academic potential for the 11+ and are in receipt of the Pupil Premium Grant, have a parent serving in the armed forces, is a Looked After Child (LAC) or have been adopted from care.  RTC’s partnership with TGS has gone from strength to strength and, together, we continue to extend opportunities for learning to many children, where financial circumstance is not a point of exclusion.  In 2024, RTC provided weekly 11+ Tuition to over 40 girls and boys, entirely free of charge - without accessing school PP funds.

From a child’s initial Year 4 and/or Year 5 participation in the Horizons Programme, which includes RTC’s sought-after tuition, followed by a successful Kent Test in September of Year 6, academically able children from disadvantaged backgrounds could be offered a space at some of Kent’s most prestigious schools, including Tonbridge Grammar School, The Judd School and Skinners’ School.  Most schools have a PP promise to help encourage applications from disadvantaged students.

Tonbridge Grammar School’s PP promise includes 10 free spaces, through revised admissions arrangements, once the 11+ test has been successfully completed.  Extra support to PP students at TGS is ongoing and successful PP students could meet RTC at TGS again, as we are proud to also be a preferred supplier of supplementary KS3 and KS4 (GCSE) tuition to PP students in Science, Maths and English.

AIM

RTC has supported AIM, a local 11+ education charity, since 2015. AIM is affiliated with Number One Community Trust and was set up by a group of three local mums to ‘level the playing field’ and offer 11+ preparation to bright children from low income families. Both AIM and RTC are passionate about making supplementary education available to all, making Grammar School a realistic prospect for an ever-widening demographic.

RTC supports AIM by providing the charity with expert 11+ tutors and exclusive learning materials, on a not-for-profit basis.  RTC tuition is delivered in inspirational learning environments such as The Judd School, The Skinners’ School and Sevenoaks School.  The AIM/RTC project have grown four-fold in the past nine years.  Now, we have four separate weekly classes, run across three Kent locations.

Dartford

RTC, via our Maidstone tuition centre, is delighted to have forged a new community-based partnership with Dartford Grammar School.  Together, we offer 11+ support classes to local children where they also benefit from an introduction to Dartford Grammar School’s many extra-curricular activities such as gardening, debating and learning Japanese!

This newest community project is about unleashing opportunity through targeted education support.  In 2024/2025, twenty children will benefit from RTC’s premium tuition offer.

Sponsorship

RTC has sponsored many community projects over the years, including the Tunbridge Wells Soapbox Race in Dunorlan Park, the West Kent Keralites, the Bells Yew Green Cricket Club and Girls’ Football Clubs such as the Anchorians and Crystal Palace Under 16s.

Currently, we proudly sponsor the Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club (TWRFC) Under 11s’ team, Demelza Hospice Care for Children and top young Kent swimming star, Reese Huckle.  We also participate in the TN card business membership scheme and have recently nabbed the runner-up place in the ‘Small Business’ category at the 2024 Tonbridge Business Awards, where our community efforts were recognised by the business community.