About Us - Ridgeway Schools

Our Logo

The clear blue sky and verdant green is typical of our warm climate and beautiful setting in the foothills of the magnificent Soutpansberg.

Typical too are the majestic baobab trees which stand as firm sentinels of strength and beauty in the landscape.

In the foreground, as the focus of all we do, is a hand holding a golden quill, symbolic of education, completing the image of education at one with nature. In keeping with this is that we are an accredited Eco School.

Our motto is a simple one. We strive to instill in our learners a sense of self and to empower them to believe in the attainment of their dreams. We are blessed to have our schools in such lovely space where our learners can be “free range” and grow in a place which is natural, harmonious, uncomplicated and clean.

History

Ridgeway Preparatory School was founded in 1997 in a church hall. It then moved briefly to a Masonic building and then finally at the current site on the outskirts of town. The setting, in the natural bush, is quite spectacular. The quaint classroom bungalows and large grounds foster an awareness of the environment whilst providing a nurturing environment for pupils to learn and grow.

The College was founded in 1999 in an old farmhouse at the Prep (the current IT Room) with 30 children. It then moved to a house in town until May 2002 when we moved to the current premises in Leeu Street. The numbers had then swelled to 80.

The two schools merged in 2013 to ensure sustainability. Ridgeway College was a Cambridge school from its inception to 2019, with the seniors writing IGCSE and AS examinations. The College received top achievement awards each year. In 2015, the College ran IEB and AS concurrently until 2019, when the last cohort of AS candidates wrote. We are now an IEB school. Whilst we have always focused on academics, we have dramatically improved in our sporting ventures. In particular, athletics has emerged as a strength of ours (despite our small numbers).

Vision

To be a centre of academic excellence in the Limpopo Province, advancing ideals of mutual respect, service, leadership, entrepreneurial thinking and an appreciation for the environment while extending our unique influence throughout our region, especially to those excluded for socio-economic reasons.

Mission statement

Our Vision is realised through commitment to a Mission which embraces these objectives:

To offer an affordable, broad, stimulating, academically rigorous and internationally benchmarked education.
To attract, retain and develop a teaching staff of the highest quality, committed to our ideal of developing each individual student’s unique potential.
To reflect in the school population – the cultural, religious and socio-economic diversity of Southern Africa.
To work in partnership with the Sumbandila Scholarship Trust and other community organisations to extend our sphere of influence to include, uplift and learn from all sections of society, especially the most disadvantaged.
To instill in our students and staff the importance of community service and responsibility and respect for our natural environment.
To provide the skills and values for our students (internal and outreach) to take their places effectively in an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving society and to do so in a context which develops and encourages and celebrates an ethos of mutual respect, caring and enjoyment.