Benowa's French Immersion programme is a four-year course offered in years 7 to 10, where students learn four of their six subjects in French – these being: mathematics, French, society & environment and science. The school has recorded 11 OP1s each year from 2004 to 2007, which ranks it ahead of all other secondary schools in the Gold Coast region. Another stream in Benowa SHS is the Waldorf education Programme which aims to develop independent and "natural" learning in students, who learn at their own pace. Unlike most state schools, but like some private schools, Benowa State High School groups year 10–12 as senior school, and offers Mathematics C as a subject to the year 10 students. Another offered stream from Benowa is the STEM Learning programme which aims students to excel in the areas of Science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is a four-year program from years 7–10 which ends with an excursion to the NASAlaunch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Each and every STEM student receives extra lessons in those categories and various opportunities including 3D printing, Rocket Launching, Coding, and more. Benowa is known for having a large range of subjects. It has over 30 subjects which students can choose in years 10, 11 and 12.
Sports
Benowa is a constant achiever at volleyball tournaments, placing highly in most of the competitions they enter, and some students have entered the national level of competition in the event. Students also achieve high in many other sports, including tennis, swimming, athletics and touch. The school also has an athletics-inclined stream called 'Sports Excellence' which is aimed at year 7, 8 and 9 students who wish to pursue a career in athletics. It has produced athletes who have gone on to represent both state and country in a variety of sports such as: swimming, volleyball, rugby, Australian rules football, football and track & field.
Arts
Benowa has created an advanced curriculum in the arts, ranging from music to drama to the visual arts. To accompany these subjects is a 'Music Excellence' program which allows students to develop their own musical talent. Art workshops are offered to complement formal classes.
Use of technology
Benowa has projectors and speakers in all classrooms, allowing students to have an enhanced learning experience. Benowa has a complex network system called BYOX, a Bring Your Own Device Program which allows students to access documents and files uploaded by their teachers via a G: Drive as well as function as a wifi network.
House system
Benowa State High School puts students into eight different houses when they start the school. Students can gain points for their house during sporting events, public speaking and drama competitions, and more. As of January 2018, students are also placed into groups called House Groups which have 4 students from each level in the same group. Each house has 10 groups, and students will no longer have Care classes, but now attend House groups in the morning. Example: the ninth group of Florey will be FLR 09 and will appear as such on timetables and notes. The eight houses, named after Australian Pioneers are:
Bandler – Red
Laver – Blue
Wright – Yellow
Murdoch – Green
Hollows – Orange
Wake – Turquoise
Florey – Purple
Hinkler – Pink
Something to make note of is that predating 2018 the original 4 homesteads had a system in which siblings were in the same homestead. This is no longer the case.
