SIXTY YEARS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE
This year we welcomed back former IC boarders to celebrate six decades of this unique boarding house , which helped Sevenoaks become the diverse , internationally minded community it is today .
When the International Centre , usually just called the IC , was founded in 1962 , I don ’ t think anyone could have imagined how important it would become to the life of Sevenoaks School , and the lives of around 1500 students who have since passed through its doors .
It opened with 23 boarders – from Canada , France , Germany , India , Iran , Pakistan , the US and Britain – after seven years of proposals and planning led by the pioneering Sevenoaks Headmaster Kim Taylor – and was housed in Oak Lane in what is now School House .
The community is still going strong and today the IC is a home from home for 58 students from , at any one time , between 20 and 25 different countries around the world . The mixture of nationalities changes every year and there is no typical IC student ; what typifies them is a willingness to fit into an international community , a desire to experience different cultures and an open mind .
The first day in the IC is always a nervous affair with the new students standing around the pool table in the Blue Room asking each other which country they are from and what Higher Level subjects they do , but within weeks it is as if they have known each other for months , and by the end of the first term longlasting friendships have been forged . They are united by a common experience , with virtually all students being new to the UK , boarding and the IB . It is a steep learning curve for some , but they know that they always have people around to help .
We probably have a reputation for being pretty STEM / Economics-orientated , and the most common combination of Higher Level subjects is Maths , Physics and Economics , but we also have students going off to study English , History or Law at university , amongst other subjects , and the Blue Room walls are covered with works of art from students who have studied Art or Architecture .
Over 61 years the day-to-day life of the IC has definitely changed , but what has not changed is the sense of community , the friends who are more like brothers and the fun .
Steve Owen , IC Housemaster
Above : IC alumni ( 1967-2022 ) at the 60th anniversary reunion .
We moved to the current purpose-built house in 1997 , which allowed us to accommodate more students in a mixture of single and double rooms .
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