Hannah Bennie Schools was never started to make money. It was started because Kigamboni's children deserved a great English-medium school close to home — and no one else was building one.
HBS did not begin as a business plan. It began as a response to a need the families of Kigamboni lived every single day — and a quiet promise that, for the children in this community, school would no longer be the hardest part of growing up here.
In the early 2010s, before the Nyerere Bridge, Kigamboni had very few English-medium schools of the quality that parents here hoped for. Families who wanted one had to send their children across the ferry every morning — on a ferry that was always too crowded.
Children left home at 4 a.m. and returned as late as 9 p.m. The commute was longer than the school day. Something had to change.
We tried the community route first. We sat with the community around us — hoping to build a school together, pooling resources for a shared dream.
The idea was right. The commitment to see it through, on the scale it needed, never quite arrived. The plan stalled. But the need did not go away.
In 2015 we made a decision: start with whatever was possible, just to keep the ambition alive. We opened with four classes. A safe, beautiful place to learn. Nourishing meals. Reliable transport.
That was the whole plan. Not profit. Not scale. Just three things, done well, for the children in front of us.
Eleven years later, the campus has grown — classrooms, labs, a library, pools, a football pitch, boarding houses, our own buses. The school is no longer small.
But the founding obsession has not changed: a great English-medium education, in a place children love coming to, with the meals and the journey home both taken seriously. The rest follows from there.
From the first four classes in 2015 to the campus you see today, every decision still passes through these three filters.
An English-medium education that prepares children for the best secondary schools in Tanzania and beyond — taught with curiosity, exploration, and care. Our 2024 PSLE result (No.1 in Dar es Salaam Region) is one measure. The way children talk about school is the other.
Wholesome breakfasts, balanced lunches, light afternoon snacks, and hearty suppers for boarders — dietitian-planned and prepared in a clean, welcoming kitchen. A child who eats well learns well. We take this as seriously as we take the timetable.
Our own LATRA-compliant bus fleet, trained drivers, fixed routes, and on-time pick-ups. The commute should never be the hardest part of a child's day — and it never is at HBS.
The three obsessions came first. These three statements explain how we live them out, every day.
To nurture curious, confident, and capable young learners through a world-class English-medium curriculum — taught with warmth, rigour, and care.
Every HBS child finishes primary school ready to thrive — academically, socially, and personally — anywhere in the world.
Book a visit, meet our teachers, and walk through the classrooms, library, and play spaces that make HBS feel like home.