Our school
The House System at St Benedict’s
The house system is a traditional feature of western schools and is a practice that has spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The system sees the pupil body of a school is divided into subunits called “houses” and each student is allocated to one house at the moment of enrolment.
Building School Spirit
The house system enables boys to be managed in smaller groups, allows for informal competition against one another in sporting and cultural activities and provides a focus for group identity, loyalty and the development of school spirit.
Fostered In Four Houses
From Grade 00 to Matric, all boys are allocated to one of the four houses: Allard, Erasme, Mazenod, and O’Leary. Brothers are allocated to the same house and sons of old boys to the same house as their fathers.
Promoting Brotherhood
The house system increases in complexity as boys progress through the school. What starts in Junior Prep as a system to foster belonging, friendly rivalry and competition; culminates at college level as a network of small multi-grade tutor groups aimed at promoting mentorship and brotherhood.
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.
