He has got more than enough principal-ing under his belt to be considered a veteran in the profession.

As with most headmasters, Mr Bruce Wells, the new principal of Ridgeway College in Louis Trichardt, started his career as a teacher after obtaining a diploma in higher education from the Maritzburg College of Education. Hailing from Natal, his areas of interest included maths and sport.

In later years, Wells also obtained a B.Ed degree in education leadership and management from the University of Pretoria. This was shortly before he left the famous private school in Swaziland, Waterford Kamhlaba, after being employed there for almost 14 years.

During his time at Kamhlaba, Bruce played a key role in developing a pastoral care program, fundraising, maintained a discipline programme and served as the chairperson of the Swaziland National Committee. “Some of South Africa’s most high-ranking politicians’ children were enrolled at Waterford,” said Bruce when the Zoutpansberger had a one-on-one chat with him recently.

Towards the end of 2014 he decided, however, to take on a new challenge by becoming the executive head of Ridgeway College.

As many residents might know, Ridgeway is an independent, multi-cultural, co-educational primary and secondary school. The junior school was founded in 1997 and the college in 1999 to provide quality, independent, English-medium educational opportunities in Louis Trichardt. Both the schools ran as independent institutions until they merged during 2013.  

“Ridgeway reminds me of Kamhlaba,” said Bruce. “I was pleasantly surprised by Ridgeway, as well as Louis Trichardt and its culture. The town has a friendly culture.”

Bruce was also attracted to the school because of its partnership with the non-profit organisation, Sumbandila Scholarship Trust. The trust provides both full scholarships to private schools and an educational outreach programme to impoverished rural children within the Vhembe District.

Apart from his noticeable passion for children’s education, Bruce also enjoys working with Ridgeway’s “flavour of diverse staff.” His vision for Ridgeway will be to continue building on the diverse staff and students by reaching out to the local community. “I’m really looking forward to building a strong support network in the community.”