Council

In 1918, Rev Edward Paget and a few others sat on upturned paint tins, daring to dream, wanting to open a parish school. On 4th February 1918, the St Dunstan’s Memorial Diocesan school opened in Hudson House in Bunyan Street, Benoni. The journey started with one pupil and one teacher. An extract from the local newspaper that day stated: “Benoni is to have a first class fee-paying school for boys and girls, that will be received with pleasure. The new school is to be called St Dunstan’s.”

The journey since then has been nothing but remarkable, with the sole focus of providing a holistic Christian education to our pupils. The school has grown from one pupil and one teacher to the Pre-School, Preparatory School, and College that we have today. The vision was clear, and the growth purposeful and meticulous.

We are blessed to have moved from the small school in town to an expansive property where our whole school and all sports facilities reside. This means that all our pupils are in one place, creating many opportunities for them to meet and integrate through special services and celebrations.

Since procuring the property in 2000, the Council developed a carefully thought-out campus “Master Plan,” specifically designed so that our Chapel is at the centre of the school. This plan ensures that all developments at the school fit our evolving needs, while still retaining the look and open feel of our campus. In May 2008, the Pre-School, Preparatory School, and College were finally all on the Rynfield campus.

Over the years, the campus expansion continued. Connected by our shared purpose, we have introduced several world-class additions:

• The world-class E John Butler Centre for the Arts, a doubled-in-size Pre-School and a dedicated Aftercare facility.
• A Preparatory Sports Pavilion, swimming pool, courts and a mini artificial turf.
• The College hockey artificial turf and pavilion, alongside the Jardine Sports Pavilion overlooking the Don Jones Cricket Oval.
• Four new netball/basketball courts, officially opened in March 2024. Floodlights have also been installed on both the oval and the hockey turf, allowing us to host day-night cricket and athletics events.

The horizon looks incredibly bright as we continue to roll out state-of-the-art facilities.

• The Memorial Hall, a highly anticipated multi-purpose indoor centre that will allow training to continue during bad weather, and will serve as an examination venue and hosting space for special school events like prize-givings.
• A state-of-the-art STEM building that will double the size of the available College teaching space and accommodate advanced learning initiatives, particularly in Mathematics, Science, and Technology.
• A large amphitheatre for whole-school outdoor events and assemblies, alongside upcoming plans for an aquatics centre, an E-sports centre, and five-a-side sport turfs.

Beyond these large infrastructure projects, we continuously implement modern educational technology in classrooms, step up campus safety with added security guard houses, and ensure sustainability with a newly installed solar power system and back-up generator.

Why is all of this being done? As a school, it is important to give the best possible education to all our students, from the Quad Squad (Grade 0000) to the Matrics. Every brick laid, technology adopted, and facility upgraded serves a singular, core purpose: enhancing our standing as a leading independent, co-educational Christian school.