The mission of Bennett School is to produce students with academic and social skills necessary to be responsible citizens. We will accomplish this by providing a competent staff; a relevant, integrated curriculum; and a safe, orderly environment.

Bennett School is located in the southwestern corner of Chatham County on Randolph Avenue in Bennett. The school is situated on 13 acres in the Bennett residential area. There have been four schools named Bennett School. The first was located about two blocks away near the Bennett Baptist Church. The first Bennett School on the present site started out as a union school in 1931. It included grades one through eleven. It was built at a cost of $10,000. The school had been in operation for two years when it burned during the summer. It took one year to rebuild. During that year the students continued their education at the old school and in buildings downtown. The school was rebuilt with $8,000 collected from fire insurance, and two additional rooms were included.

A teacherage was built in 1938 in order to attract a qualified faculty to the Bennett area. Teachers rented rooms to live in the teacherage. This building is now used for the Bennett Preschool.

Before a cafeteria was built in 1943, the school only had a small kitchen. The students were encouraged to bring a jar or dish of vegetables of some sort from home to stock the kitchen. In exchange, the students got a lunch ticket to get a meal at lunch time. After lunch, the empty jars were washed and given back to the students to carry back home. The children had alternatives of going home for lunch or bringing their own bagged lunch.

In 1946, the 12th grade class was added. In 1951, the present day gymnasium was built. Also, in the fifties the first telephone lines were run through Bennett. Some of the older students helped Principal Wayne Phillips put up the poles for a distance of eight miles to Coleridge in order to get phone service to Bennett School. The students were repaid by swimming trips. In 1958 Chatham Central High School was built. The Bennett High School students did not join Chatham Central until 1965. The Kindergarten was established at Bennett in 1973.

The current school was ready for students in the fall of 1992. The building cost was approximately $1.8 million. It came equipped with all new furniture, a spacious media center, and a multipurpose room. It was wired for a Macintosh computer lab and a write - to - read lab. A science lab was also included in the new school. In addition to modern K - 8 classrooms, administrative, guidance, and conference areas, the new school had rooms for resource teachers, a fully equipped cafeteria, and two remodeled classrooms which are presently being utilized as music, art, and Spanish classrooms. The school was air conditioned in every class except the gym. It is a splendid school, set back off the main highways, and is easily accessible. The students, faculty, staff, and community are proud of Bennett School. Local residents volunteered many hours to buy and set up the school's modern playground equipment. Mr. and Mrs. V. Brewer donated the softball/little league field to the Bennett Recreation Department in 1988 so that the school would be guaranteed access to the facility. The Wayne E. Phillips Baseball Field located on the school site is one of the best middle school fields in the county.