"I'd Have loved This": SA School’s Learning Hubs and Tech-Focused Curriculum Draw Global Attention

• Centennial Schools in Johannesburg opened in 2022 with just 35 students and has since grown to more than 450
• The school replaced traditional classrooms with flexible learning hubs where students study coding, entrepreneurship and digital design
• A viral Instagram tour of the campus has parents around the world asking whether this is the future of education

A Johannesburg school is turning heads for doing things very differently, and a viral Instagram video is why the world is now paying attention.

Raisingbeyondschool posted a selfie-style walking tour of Centennial Schools on 29 September 2026, and it quickly sparked a wave of curiosity online. The clip moves through basketball courts, sports fields, a paddleboarding area, creative studios, and a driving simulator room, painting a picture of a school that looks nothing like what most people grew up in.

How Centennial Schools was born

Centennial Schools was founded in 2022 by lifelong educator Sean Fuchs, who set out with a single guiding question: if you were designing a school today instead of 100 years ago, what would it look like? The answer he landed on is a campus where students in grades 4 through 12 (roughly ages 9 to 18) follow South Africa's national curriculum and work towards recognised IEB exams, but the environment around that learning looks completely different.

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Instead of conventional classrooms, students work in flexible learning hubs built for movement and collaboration, alongside creative hubs for design, video production and project work. Subjects like personal finance, content creation, digital design, entrepreneurship and even blockchain fundamentals sit alongside traditional academics.

Africa's largest school eSports arena

One of the most talked-about features is what the school describes as Africa's largest dedicated school eSports arena. Students are required to log physical workouts to earn access to it, with fitness and wellness intentionally built into campus life alongside the tech-forward curriculum.

The school's 2026 tuition runs between R126,960 and R143,100 per year depending on grade, and younger grades from kindergarten to grade 3 are set to join in 2027.

The growth tells its own story. Centennial opened with 35 students in 2022. Four years later, that number has climbed to more than 450.

View the Instagram video below:

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Mzansi reacts to the Joburg school

The Instagram reel drew hundreds of comments on the page with many viewers asking for more information:

@lieselotverheggen said:

"Guide!! Never heard of this in SA only in the US would LOVE to hear more 🙌"

@rossobrown shared:

"Epic! I would have loved this"

@nisreen.nabil.official added:

"Guide and I am interested in learning more"

More Briefly News stories on schools

• A South African matric girl’s grand school dance entrance, featuring a motorcycle entourage and luxury BMW, went viral on TikTok.
• Durban school principal Mrs Williams received an emotional farewell as Berea Primary School pupils and staff lined up to celebrate her impact.
• Laerskool Kempton Park paid tribute to runner Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo after she was identified as the fourth victim in a series of women found dead in the area.

Source: Briefly News