Kapiti Island
Bennington attended Hanmer Springs Primary School, Culverden District High School and Shirley Boys' High School as a student. He credited a teacher at Culverden with introducing him to biology, his favourite subject. An art teacher also took Bennington and other students on a birdwatching trip to Kapiti Island when he was in seventh grade, and the trip left him with a lifelong appreciation for art and nature.