New head and principal for Ridgeway Schools

Date: 31 October 2019 By: 

The RC (Ridgeway College) Education Board has announced the appointment of Ms Dionne Redfern as the new executive head of all the Ridgeway Schools, also assuming the role as principal of Ridgeway College, while Mr Jannie le Roux was appointed as the new principal of Ridgeway Preparatory School.

Both executives will take up their new positions at the school and college in Louis Trichardt from 1 January next year. This follows recent changes at Ridgeway. Mr Bruce Wells, the previous executive head of Ridgeway Schools, has taken up the post of executive head at the International School in Mahikeng as from September 2019, after his contract at Ridgeway College came to an end. The current principal of the Ridgeway Preparatory School, Ms Molly Madziva, has decided to step down as principal at the end of 2019. She will assume the position of head of senior phase and senior mathematics teacher at the school at the beginning of January 2020.

According to the education board, Ms Redfern was successfully identified as the preferred candidate after a thorough, rigorous and professional executive search process that involved 26 applicants. This impressive list of candidates was reduced to a shortlist of five excellent educationalists. Mr Le Roux in turn was selected as the preferred candidate after a similar process involving 16 applicants, which was reduced to a shortlist of four well-experienced principals.

“In the end, Dionne’s experience, education philosophy and decisive leadership ability made her the ideal fit as executive head to take Ridgeway forward in its quest to become the independent school of choice in Limpopo. Dionne is a highly experienced, successful and well-regarded educational leader who has held the deputy head of academics position at the renowned DSG Grahamstown for the last six years,” said the education board. Before this, Redfern held various positions at Maritzburg College, the widely acclaimed Michaelhouse and at Kingsmead College. She is an IEB expert who has dealt with IEB matters and having been an IEB portfolio moderator and an IEB examinations officer. “She has a deep-routed passion for education and her philosophy has always been to inspire intrinsic motivation in students and colleagues, ensuring relevance and excellence in all that’s being done,” said the education board. Redfern’s specific field of expertise is that of the English language and drama.

“It was decided that Jannie’s local and international experience and qualification, combined with his distinct education philosophy and leadership ability, made him the preferred new leader for our preparatory school,” said the education board.

Le Roux has held various principal and head-of-school positions over the last 10 years. He holds a master’s degree in education through the University of Phoenix, Arizona, and his passion lies with the holistic development of learners within a well-structured educational environment. “Jannie is currently the head of school at the Gateway International School in Hanoi, Vietnam. The school has 800 learners. Before that, he was headmaster of the ABC Christian Academy International School in Lilongwe, Malawi. He also held the headmaster position in South Africa at St Dominic’s Preparatory School in Newcastle, King David Preparatory, as well as at St John’s Preparatory school, both in Johannesburg. Le Roux is a keen sportsman and will be reporting directly to Redfern as executive head.”

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