Roy inspires a new generation
Roy Hellenberg was recently appointed as the new executive head of Curro Helderwyk in Brakpan.
Roy, a resident of Parkrand in Boksburg, is responsible for the pre-primary (three years to grade R), the primary school (Grade One to Grade Seven) and the high school (Grade Eight to Grade 12).
The 52-year-old is excited to help create an environment that can truly enable young people to be equipped to excel in our 21st century world.
“Even though the school is young, I believe this is a distinct advantage as it allows us not to be burdened by old methodologies and ways of doing things, but instead allows us to be agile as we create a truly 21st-century world,” Roy said.
Roy has spent over 25 years as an educator and school leader in both under-resourced and well-resourced schools in South Africa.
He started his teaching career in Cape Town by teaching history and English on the Cape Flats (Lansdowne and Manenberg).
Roy left teaching for 12 years, but returned in 2003, taking up a history post at Rondebosch Boys’ High School.
He spent 11 years at the school, and during that time he was promoted to head of history and then head of department.
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In 2015, he moved to Durban to take up a deputy headmaster position at Durban High School until he started at Curro Helderwyk on June 1, 2019.
During his 12-year break from teaching, Roy worked as a student counsellor at the University of Cape Town and as an operations manager at a large NGO working with the poor.
He also started a consulting business operating in the tourism sector.
Over Roy’s career of education, learners have described him as strict, but fair.
“I challenge learners not simply to accept what is said to them, but to develop the ability to think for themselves and to critically evaluate positions,” he said.
Roy’s religion also forms a big part of who he is and his relationship with God is what inspires him.
“I am a spiritual being who can only find my true fulfillment in a relationship with God. I find my purpose in this relationship as well.”
Roy loves his family and has four children, Aaron (26), Daniel (23), Hannah (20) and Keren (17), and is married to René.
The family man feels he has the bragging rights to his successful children and his wife’s unconditional love for him.
“My wife always speaks the truth to me and our four children have taken our values and have broadened it, expanded it and ultimately live it better than what we do,” Roy said.
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