College Life

House System In The College

At St Benedict’s College we operate on a house system where boys are encouraged to perform and participate in all facets of school life. The house system offers the opportunity for boys to participate in events that they wouldn’t ordinarily do so.

House Events

House events are scheduled throughout the year and each event is allotted points. The house system encourages healthy competition amongst the boys and the houses itself.

House Trophy

At the conclusion of each year, the house that accumulates the most points across a calendar year is awarded the House Trophy at a formal assembly.

Four Houses

All boys are allocated to one of the four houses: Allard, Erasme, Mazenod, and O’Leary. The college staff are also assigned to one of the four houses.

Management Of The Houses

Each house is managed by a Head of House, Deputy Head of House, and two Academic Administrators; one who takes care of the boys academics in grade 8 and 9 and the other is responsible for monitoring academic standards for grades 10 to 12. Each house has 14 tutor groups made up of 11 boys per group.

College Discipline

Discipline within the College is handled by the Heads and Deputy Heads of house while all the academic and pastoral matters are taken care of by the Academic administrators. The first link in the chain is always the tutor who addresses all matters at grass roots level.

School Leaders

Each house has 5 school leaders who have been voted into office by the boys themselves. One of these leaders are nominated as Head of House to represent the boys in that specific house. A headboy is appointed to higher office but is not attached to one specific house.

House Flags

The flags of our Houses: Allard, Erasme, Mazenod, and O’Leary.

Names Of The Houses

The houses are named after prominent religious figures who have had a profound influence on our school.

  • Bishop Jean-Marie Allard O.M.I. – the first Bishop of the old Transvaal, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, Lesotho and Mozambique;
  • Father Philip Erasme O.M.I. – the Provincial Oblate of Mary Immaculate who founded St Benedict’s in 1958;
  • Saint Eugene de Mazenod O.M.I. – the Bishop of Marseilles in France and was the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate; and
  • Bishop David O’Leary O.M.I. – the Bishop of Johannesburg at whose behest the college was founded in 1958.