Foundations and firsts in a defining year
As Crossroads prepares for its 60th anniversary, principal Yolandi Roux reflects on a year of growth, gratitude, and the shared values that hold a diverse community together.
Crossroads School is drawing 2025 to a close with a rare mix of gratitude, pride, and anticipation.
Principal Yolandi Roux says this year has been a defining one for the Johannesburg-based institution – a year that reminded the community why remedial education matters, and what becomes possible when learners are given time, tools, and the right support.
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The most celebrated moment came mid-year, when the school watched its first group of Grade 9 learners walk across the stage as the inaugural graduates of its newly established middle school. Their achievement, Roux noted, wasn’t simply a milestone for the school; it was a testament to perseverance – every learner travelling a unique path before arriving at this point.
Just as meaningful has been the steady rise of Crossroads’ purpose-built middle school building. Long a dream, the project finally began taking shape this year, its foundations serving as both a physical structure and a symbol of the future the school is determined to build: One grounded in opportunity, hope, and long-term commitment to the children who will one day pass through its doors.
Also read: Crossroads breaks ground on middle school extension
The sense of looking forward is especially pronounced as Crossroads prepares to mark its 60th anniversary in 2026. For Roux, the coming year is an invitation to honour everyone who has helped shape the school’s character over six decades – learners, families, therapists, staff, trustees, partners, and friends. She describes Crossroads as a place where people don’t simply become better; they become new versions of themselves, each chapter shaped by community.
If 2025 offered any lasting insight, Roux believes it is the steadying power of shared values. In a diverse school environment, she says, values create common ground – a place where people speak honestly, listen generously, and return to the table with the needs of individual learners at the centre. Gratitude, she adds, has also been a recurring theme, one felt deeply across the school community.
More than anything, Crossroads enters the festive season with a simple wish: Peace.
Roux hopes families will find peace in their homes, peace in their relationships, and peace within themselves.
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