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St Benedict's College is a private school for boys in South Africa. It is situated in Bedfordview,Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.



Origins
Today nearly one thousand four hundred boys study and play on a piece of land in Bedfordview that more than fifty years ago, consisted of smallholdings, the largest of which was used for training and kennelling greyhounds. At the time Bedfordview was semi-agricultural and sparsely populated, with little indication that large-scale development would one day take place. It was Fr Philip Erasme, Oblate of Mary Immaculate and Parish Priest of Maryvale who responded to Bishop David O’Leary’s request that a Catholic Boys’ School be established on the near East Rand. He saw the Bedfordview site as ideal as it would, in addition, cater for the boys from St Paul's School, a Parochial Primary School he had established in Maryvale.

The Oblates duly bought the 26-acre site [later additions make it nearly 40-acres today] in January 1957. In February, an application for the registration of a new school was sent to the East Rand School Board. On 11th July, the feast day of St Benedict of Nursia, official approval was received. Hence the name “St.Benedict’s. By May of the same year, the Oblate council had commissioned an architect, Mr.Voorvelt, to draw up plans for the building of the new school.

The prospectus of 1958 listed the school fees to be charged: Admission fee: £1 Std 6 (Grade 8) per term quarterly: £8 Std 7 (Grade 9) to Matric per term quarterly: £10

Fr Hugh Dalton, a CBC Kimberley old-boy, was appointed Headmaster. He had completed his B.A. Degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, his Diploma at the Johannesburg Teachers Training College and a course in Administration at St Patrick's College, Ottawa, Canada. He was to serve the School as Headmaster at three different periods. It was only co-incidental that twenty-six years later, Mr Tony Dobson, also a CBC, Kimberley old-boy and a graduate of Wits University and the Johannesburg Teachers’ Training College, would be appointed the first lay Headmaster of the School.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1957, Bishop Boyle, Bishop of Johannesburg, laid the foundation stone of the first building, the “Erasme Block”. The construction of a new Administration block in 1997 necessitated the relocation of the foundation stone to the new entrance foyer.

Oblate Roots (1958-1967)
Fr Jack O'Brien joined the staff at the beginning of 1963. He was to remain at the School until 1971 and, after a break, returned in 1975 as Principal of the Preparatory School, a position he held until 1982. In 1963 the School had thirteen matriculants! Only in 2008 have numbers of matrics exceeded one hundred for the first time. In 1965 St Benedict's switched from the JMB to the Transvaal Education Department Matriculation Examinations.

Early Years (1968-1977)
1969 was the start of the Preparatory School - with the opening of the first Std 3 class, with 23 boys. By the beginning of 1970, the building of three classrooms to accommodate Standards 3 to 5 had been completed. With 109 boys in the Prep School section, total enrolment had jumped to 246. Fr Dalton assumed the role of Headmaster for the second time. On July 10 1973, Fr.Philip Erasme died. He had not only founded St Benedict’s but also played a key role in bringing the Knights of Da Gama to the Transvaal. In 1976 St Benedict’s competed fully in the Inter-Catholic Athletics for the first time, finishing third behind De la Salle and Marist Linmeyer. Enrolment rose to 282 with the admission of the first Std 2 class.

New Stirrings (1978-1987)
Enrolment passed the 300 mark for the first time. The year marked an important milestone in St Benedict's history: the admission of its first black student, Nelson Lolwane, a move that was made in the face of threats of closure and prosecution on the part of the Government, Education Department and local authorities. The Oblates burden of financial responsibility for the school was lightened when a Board of Governors, under the Chairmanship of Mr Bruce Burt, was established. In 1984 Mr Tony Dobson, (an English teacher), was appointed Vice-Principal of the College. In 1985, the first computers were introduced: 16 BBC micro-computers. Enrolment was at 376 in 1987 and with two classes in each grade.

Growth (1988-1997)
1988, witnessed the commencement of three important new activities: Rowing, Hockey and the Pipe-Band. Until 1988, sporting successes were almost totally dependent on success in soccer. The first Prospectus in 1958 had stated that the College games would be cricket, hockey, tennis and rugby, but the first recorded matches were cricket and soccer. For 30 years soccer was in effect the only area in which the School was consistently competitive. In 1967 the U14's had brought home the first League title, the 1970 U16's took the McNair Cup in the first Cup Final victory, in 1985 the Open Soccer Team were Transvaal High School Champions. 1988 onwards, however, was to see soccer's gradual eclipse with the introduction of a range of other activities. 1990 saw the 1st Tennis Team promoted to the Premier Section of the Southern Transvaal Leagues. January 1992 witnessed the formation of the Scout Troop. Rowing, grew from 12 rowers at its establishment in 1988 to forty in 1991. That year St Benedict’s won its first regatta - at Florida Lake. St Benedict’s won both the Gauteng and South African Schools’ Rowing Championships for the first time. St.Benedict’s have repeated this every year since 1994. In 1996 enrolment reached 820. The year witnessed the introduction of a third class at the Pregrade and Grade 1 levels. Enrolment moved to 930. St Benedict's joined other independent Schools, changing to the IEB, the Independent Examinations Board. The Pipe-Band travelled to Scotland and participated in the World Championships and was awarded the trophy for the best foreign Junior band. The College won the Inter- Catholic Athletics and Gala yet again.

The 21st Century (1998-2008)
In 1998 St Benedict’s celebrated its 40th anniversary. The year also saw Rugby replacing Soccer as the College’s main sporting activity. This was the year that the “Integrated Day” was introduced in terms of which much of the sport would take place during the normal school day. St Benedict’s won the East Rand Bible Quiz for the first time. In 2000 enrolment surpassed the 1000 mark for the first time and the 1000th matriculant passed through the College. Two other old-boys also made a name for themselves in 2000 by representing South Africa at the Olympic Games in Sydney: Ramon di Clemente in Rowing and Simon De La Rey in the Baseball Team. The new Elementary School opened, in Sandra Road, Bedfordview. Catering, in a four-class structure, for boys from Grade 0 to Grade 3. College enrolment in the high school exceeded 500. Bishop Grandin House which opened with 20 boarders in 2006. In 2007, total enrolment at the College reaches 1350 boys which included 54 boarders.

St Benedict’s College Headboys
1962 - Headboy Timothy Metlerkamp 1963 - Headboy Hugh Baiocchi

1964 - Headboy Terence Weldon

1965 - Headboy Gavin Hartin

1966 - Headboy Greg Robinson

1967 - Headboy Keith Smith

1968 - Headboy Ian Gabriel

1969 - Headboy Christopher Marais

1970 - Headboy Brendan Baiocchi

1971 - Headboy Paul Anderson

1972 - Headboy Michael Galloway

1973 - Headboy Anthony Diepenbroek

1974 - Headboy John Braund

1975 - Headboy Christopher Plint

1976 - Headboy John ter Bruggen

1977 - Headboy Robert van der Plank

1978 - Headboy Paul Lindenberg

1979 - Headboy Roger Lindegger

1980 - Headboy Eric Falletisch

1981 - Headboy Michael Fanucchi

1982 - Headboy Roger Pearce

1983 - Headboy Bradley Shannon

1984 - Headboy Michael Prader

1985 - Headboy Christian Sappl

1986 - Headboy Claudio Bollo

1987 - Headboy Kenneth Creamer

1988 - Headboy Greg Lombard

1989 - Headboy Giulio Robertson

1990 - Headboy Greg Payne

1991 - Headboy Mark Regenass

1992 - Headboy David Renwick

1993 - Headboy Michael Rautman

1994 - Headboy Ronald Whelan

1995 - Headboy Chris Holfeld

1996 - Headboy Steven Munro

1997 - Headboy Peter Beskyd

1998 - Headboy Richard Maxwell

1999 - Headboy Matthew Gill

2000 - Headboy Andrew Schmidt

2001 - Headboy Matthew Greensmith

2002 - Headboy Dane Mouyis

2003 - Headboy Johnathan Tudhope

2004 - Headboy Ricky Kamp

2005 - Headboy Nicholas Grimm

2006 - Headboy Jarryd Kennedy

2007 - Headboy Johnathan McInerney

2008 - Headboy Mischa Dubrovo