Benoni Junior School has, from its inception in 1919, been a Foundation Phase only school catering for children up to the age of 9.
It was opened in 1919 and shared the premises with Central School which was in the building currently occupied by some of the District Offices and Matthew Gouniwe Training Centre in Elston/ Howard Avenues.
Shortly afterwards the school moved to its own premises which was on a swampy piece of land to the West of the town. The site was always flooded during the rainy season and it is said that the children took off their shoes and socks when crossing the playground so that they did not spend the day with wet feet. They describe how they sailed boats on the playground and were continually plagued by mosquitoes that found the area to be a perfect breeding spot.
The parents petitioned the education authorities to move the school to a more suitable site and in 1935 the present building was erected and the school moved in.
There was no hall, but the central section which now houses the Library and a classroom had folding wooden doors dividing it in half. It could be used as two classrooms or could be opened to form a larger room which was used as a hall when required. This room could not accommodate the number of children in the school and so a proper hall was built in 1974 and was opened by Miss Collins who had been a principal of the school and had been promoted to head office as an inspector of Education.
There had been a wooden room on stilts which was used as a music room for a number of years. This was demolished and prefabricated classrooms were erected over a period of time as the enrolment increased.
Benoni Junior School was allowed to use the swimming pool at Benoni West School initially. This pool was too deep for the young children in Benoni Junior and the number of periods available for our use was limited. Funds were raised and a pool was custom made for little children in the 1980’s.