Kenya High School

The Kenya High School is a public girls' high school located on Mandera Road in the upmarket Kileleshwa Ward and suburb of Dagoretti North Sub-County in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi.
The school, which follows the national curriculum, is one of Kenya's 112 national schools and also one of the 18 prestigious Cluster III secondary schools. Located on a 150-acre campus some six Km from the Central Business District, the institution caters for (as of 2024) 2000 students who attend Forms 1-4 (= US grades 9-12) in seven to eleven streams, at the end of which the students sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams. (The student numbers and constitution shall change, once the 8-4-4 System is completely phased out and the three Senior School classes of the CBC System are fully operational. Class of 2027 is the last 8-4-4 cohort.)
Starting in the mid-1990s, the school became a primarily boarding school and accepts day-scholars only on a case-by-case basis. The Kenya High School consistently performs well in national secondary exams, and has enforced a strict code of conduct to be followed by all.
Christian missions were the original providers of institutionalised education for African children in the East Africa Protectorate. Their stated purpose was to “civilise and convert the African”. They also set up teacher training college-type institutions whose graduates went back to their villages as “evangelists” to “break the yoke of primitivity and usher in civilisation”.
Formal institutional education via the colonial government began in October 1904, with the appointment of Mr Alfred John Turner, of the Indian Educational Department, as Headmaster of the Railway School, Nairobi, which served the families of the I.B.E.A. Company. At that time there were few Europeans in the country, and formal education was only required for the children of European, Eurasian and Indian employees on the Uganda Railway.
The Railway School was taken over by the government in 1908. In 1910, the Board of Education proceeded to separate the provision for European, Indian, Arab and African education, and a separate European School was founded under Mr Turner's headmastership, The European School, Nairobi (also cited as Nairobi European School). This co-education primary school marks the beginnings of Nairobi Primary School, The Kenya High School and Nairobi School formerly known as the Prince of Wales School. 1910 is considered the birth year of present-day The Kenya High School.
The school opened with 110 children and gradually increased the number until it obtained its maximum of about 250 children in 1918. It started in buildings on the former Police Barracks adjacent to Government House on Nairobi Hill, which is the location of the present-day Nairobi Primary School. About 130 boarders were accommodated in new buildings of timber and iron sheets two miles away, by the old Buller's camp next to Nairobi Club. By this time (1920) present Kenya had been transformed into The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, a British Crown Colony. The school's shield-and-lion crest was designed for the co-educational European School Nairobi in July 1926 by Mr. Michael William Alfred Berkley (born 9 April 1986 in Linton, Herefordshire, UK; died 5 September 1931 at Rua Ngonde Estate, Maragua). In keeping with the colonial government's then commitment to improving institutional education (for Europeans) in Kenya, 25 acres (10 ha) of land on the Hill were allocated for new buildings. The architect, Sir Herbert Baker, drew up the design, and in 1928 a fine set of spacious new buildings was ready for occupation.
In 1930, when the colonial government initiated the classification of secondary schools, the European School Nairobi was the only one accorded this status in the whole country, while the rest of the schools remained primary and feeder schools. It was then that the genders were separated, and the secondary girls moved to the upper floor of the school, while using the Pillared Hall for assembly. The headmaster, Captain Bertram William Lothian Nicholson, is credited as the originator of the girls' school's motto, Servire Est Regnare (To Serve Is To Reign / In Service is Perfect Freedom). Lenana School (established in 1949 as the Duke of York School) also credits its existence to the European School Nairobi, which was its feeder school.
In 1931 the boys' secondary school was moved to a 600-acre allotment in the Kabete area (along Sclater's Road, today's Waiyaki Way), leaving the girls behind with the primary school pupils. The original idea for the name of the boys' school was Kabete Boys Secondary School, but the first headmaster, Captain Bertram W. L. Nicholson, thought this to be too clumsy and therefore the name Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School) was suggested and eventually adopted.
The first Headmistress of the girls' school, Miss G. H. Kerby, was appointed in 1931 (serving until 1941), and in 1935 the school was renamed The European Girls' Secondary School. The current name, The Kenya High School was officially registered in 1938. In 1951 - while Miss J. Stott was Principal (1942-1963) - the school moved to new buildings in Kileleshwa, which had been constructed at an (for that time) astronomical cost of £700,000 (excluding the chapel, pool and library) through Miss Kerby's connection to colonial administrators. The school was modelled on the English public school and grammar school tradition.
A breakthrough was made in 1961 when the school (until then an exclusive European preserve) admitted two ethnic African and two ethnic Indian girls. The first ethnic African girls were Ann Wachira (née Mithamo) and Dr. Eunice Githinji (née Wagga), who were both Science students. Eunice joined Boma from Alliance Girls High School for her A-levels (Form 5 and Form 6). Segregation was declared illegal on 1 June 1963, and the Kenyanisation of schools began in earnest after 1965 when the government set out nine objectives for education in Kenya. These included fostering a sense of nationhood and promoting national unity and serving all Kenyans without discrimination. This time also saw the admission of 120 ethnic African and 100 ethnic Indian girls. History was also made that year when the school selected the first ethnic African Deputy Headgirl, Hon. Ruth Waruhiu (née Githu).
It was during this Kenyanisation phase, with Miss A. A. Levers' as Principal (tenure: 1963 - 1967), that Dr. Pamela Ogot Kola joined the faculty on 1 May 1965 as the first ethnic African teacher, teaching English literature. Hon. Winifred Nyiva Mwendwa, who taught Domestic Science, was also employed at around this time.
Miss V. M. Barnes became Principal during a period of transition (serving 1968-1976). In 1974 the school was officially taken over by the government and it began to admit more African pupils and teachers. The first ethnic African Headmistress, Mrs Rose Kariuki, served from January to July 1977, then handed over to Mrs. Margaret Wanjohi. Mrs. Wanjohi went on to lead the school until 1999, when she moved as Director of Starehe Girls' Centre, having been the longest-serving Principal at The Kenya High School. It was during Mrs Wanjohi's tenure that she was also promoted as the first female Principal of a Kenyan institution. Following the establishment of three Secondary School Principals’ grades in the 2018 Career Progression Guidelines by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the school's first headteacher to acquire the title of Chief Principal was Mrs Flora Mulatya.
As part of The Three, The Kenya High School is one of the oldest schools of the former East Africa Protectorate government's European Secondary Boarding Schools, coupled with Nairobi School (formerly Prince of Wales School) and Lenana School (formerly Duke of York School). Nairobi School has always been referred to as The Kenya High School's brother school, as the two schools have maintained a cordial rapport over the years by inviting each other to their school events and sports galas. The Kenya High School also enjoys a similar historical relationship with Lenana School. All three schools still retain some English traditions handed down from the colonial settler era.
As a national school, up to 2024 The Kenya High School admitted girls from across Kenya's 47 counties who had performed exceptionally well in the national Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination. Annual enrolment has steadily increased over the years, from around 700 in the late 1980s/early 1990s to nearly 2000 as of 2024. The high numbers are a result of Kenya adopting the Policy on Universal Access to Basic Education, which seeks to ensure that all children enrol in primary school and complete their secondary school education with a 100% transition rate.
The Kenya High School has severally produced the top performing girl nationwide in KCSE:
As one of the best public schools in the country, The Kenya High School consistently posts excellent results, often topping the national list of over 10,000 secondary schools:
There are ten boarding houses which were originally named after notable women in European history and are now mostly named after Kenyan geographical features and heritage sites. The houses, consisting of dormitories, cubicles and private rooms, are home to about 99% of these students for eight and a half months in a year. Although constructed to accommodate 50 girls, each of the houses currently hosts nearly 200 students; all from the four different class/form levels. The symmetrical architectural design of the school features two houses in each block except for the two in the middle (Nyali and Suswa), which are home to one house each. During the 7-4-2-3 era, Nyali and Suswa were home to students in Form 5 and Form 6 respectively. Each house originally had its own house colours, which were reflected in the members' sports kits and tie pins, but this was phased out sometime in the 1970s. However, the house emblems still adorn the front facade of each house. The area where the houses are located is known as down blocks by the students. The houses of residence are built next to each other in a semi-circular shape, clockwise from north-west to south-east as follows:
Phased out day-scholar houses include:
There is a resident matron (housemistress) for every block (two boarding houses) except Nyali and Suswa, which each have their own matron. One of the matrons serves as the Head Matron. Matrons are generally responsible for welfare and disciplinary matters in their individual houses.
Tuition takes place "up-school" which consists of two rows of classrooms and some laboratories (junior and senior corridors). The two corridors are connected at the western tip by a quadrangle featuring of a lecture theatre and laboratories for biology, physics, chemistry and home science. The Computer Centre was later constructed behind the lecture theatre in 2009.
The school's own chapel, which was dedicated between the late 1950s and early 1960s, sits between the boarding houses and tuition blocks. With a two-level seating capacity, it houses a piano and a digital church organ. The chapel's western exterior walls are wooden sliding doors which can be opened up to accommodate an outside-seated congregation. It has a unique architectural design in the form of a cross when viewed aerially.
While dining was previously catered for in the old dining hall (currently used for class assemblies and other meetings), the school now has a modern kitchen and dining complex, whose foundation stone was laid by then President Uhuru Kenyatta in May 2018. This hospitality space was constructed with Ksh 7 million in government funds, was officially commissioned in 2020 and can seat 2,500 students.
There is also a well-stocked library, and a Science & Technology Centre was constructed (behind Senior Corridor's western tip) at a cost of Ksh 7 million.
Installed by the late 1960s, the Art Studio and Music Room contain spaces for visual and performing arts, with the Music Room having several practice rooms each equipped with a piano. The music teaching room has two pianos and several indigenous instruments.
The sanatorium (The San) is the school's sickbay, which has a clinic and wards for in-patient treatment. It is managed by two qualified personnel (nurses) on 12-hour shifts. Additionally, a physician is on call in the event of any complication to give directions and consultancy services to the students. Architecturally, the Lenana School sanatorium is interestingly a near-replica of The KHS one.
For sports, the campus is equipped with a 33-yard (≃ 30m) swimming pool, a gymnasium, several field hockey pitches and an athletics field ("top field"), as well as tennis, basketball, netball and volleyball courts.
The school also has its own fish pond and farm with cattle and crops.
The Kenya High School is home to the country's first open-air theatre, The Oenone Theatre, named after a former student, Oenone Grellier (1922 - 1944) who passed away in a swimming accident.
Legend has it that, in recognition of the "grade-level wealth" encircled within its fences, the school came to be known and The Heifer Boma, later simply Boma, with the students gaining the nickname Bomarians. Another version tells that the school was affectionately known as a Boma (of heifers) in reference to a "herd" of young girls who needed to be kept safely out of predators' way.
Situated on Mandera Road off Gatundu Road in Kileleshwa, The Kenya High School is designed to a site plan resembling a mushroom, with the classrooms and administration block forming the stem and the dormitories forming the bloom. The chapel is centrally located symbolising God's important role in the school.
The buildings are constructed to an early modern design with chisel dressed stone walls under a half-round Spanish tiled roof. Floors are finished in a variety of terazzo, parquet and cement screed. Doors are made of highly polished timber panels while windows are glazed in steel casements.
Extra lighting is provided by fixed glazed casements held in arched frames with ornamental brick infilling and rose windows. Considering their age, the buildings and the school grounds are in an excellent state of repair and decoration.
Students are required to be members of and participate in co-curricular activities, with the following offerings being available:
The Kenya High School has various levels of governance charged with managing the school.
During Miss Barnes' tenure, the first ethnic African Chairman to the Board of Governors (BoG), Hon. Charles Njonjo, was appointed. The first woman to serve on the BoG was Dr. Eddah Gachukia (1984 - 1988), an ethnic African. Since renamed for all public schools, the current Board of Management (BoM) consists of the following members:
As is law the Chief Principal, Virginia Wahome, serves as Secretary to the BoM.
The principals (the Chief and her deputies) execute the mandate of administration, with oversight by the BoM. As with most faculty members, the administrators are employed and assigned by, as well as registered with the Teachers Service Commission.
The Kenya High School employs a management system for the Boarding department. Houses of residence are managed by Matrons who are surrogate in-school mothers responsible for the students' welfare while downblocks in the Houses. Matrons answer to the Chief Principal who schedules regular meetings with them in order to receive updates on each student's behaviour and needs in the Houses. The Matrons ensure that laundry, cleanliness and gardening are accomplished in a timely fashion. It is also the Matrons' duty to maintain the good reputation and image that their Houses develop. There are six Matrons in charge of each of the four double-blocks and two single-blocks; the Matrons live in one of the flats attached to their respective boarding House.
Additionally, each House is assigned a female teacher who takes on the role of Housemistress. The Housemistress have a pastoral role and live on campus.
Both the Matrons and Housemistresses take pride in seeing their Houses awarded Merit Marks for inter-House activities, academic and sports and competitions.
The last European Matrons who had departed by 1972 were:
The first ethnic African Matrons were:
As per the 2008 national reforms in the education sector to phase out the prefect-system, The Kenya High School has a Student Council (SC), whose members are elected from and by the student body, to enable participatory governance of the school, to represent students' views to the administration and to generally inculcate democratic and leadership skills. To address post-election violence and strikes in school, Kenya initiated peace clubs in secondary schools and supported the Ministry of Education (MoE) in developing a National School Council programme. MoE (2009), as cited by Kenya Secondary Schools Students’ Council (KSSSC, 2013), defines a Student Council as a representative body which acts as an avenue through which students in an institution of learning can be involved in the activities of the school, working in collaboration with school management, teachers, support staff and parents for the success and well-being of the school and the students.
The SC is headed by a President who takes on the role of what was previously an appointed Head of School (Head Girl). Other officials are: Deputy President (formerly Deputy Head of School) and the Secretary-General. In the Student Council, Upschool prefects (Blue Rags) are Cabinet Secretaries, whereas the ten Downblocks Blue Rags (Heads of Houses) are Principal Secretaries. All SC members are seniors and in their final year of secondary education (Form IV). Cabinet Secretaries include members for Games and Sports, Music, the Environment, Dining Hall, Library, Chapel, Health and Sanitation, Clubs and Societies, amongst others
Besides the matrons, disciplinary action in the houses of residence is up to the Heads of Houses and junior officials (Red Rags, in Form III).
Blue Rags wear navy blue ties and sweaters; Red Rags wear burgundy ties and sweaters. Other student officials include Form Captains who wear red ties.
The Kenya High School wrote history when it became the first school in independent Kenya to establish a Parents-Teachers Association in 1979. This group carried on the work previously performed by the European Parents Association and gave birth to the current Parents Association (PA), which comprises representatives of parents and guardians whose children are current students at The KHS.
The current Members (as of December 2023) are:
As is law the Chief Principal, Virginia Wahome, serves as Secretary to the PA.
The PA is a member of the National Parents Association (NPA).
Former students of school (Ex-Bomarians) are organised under The Kenya High School Alumnae Society (until December 2023: Kenya High School Old Girls' Association (KHSOGA)), which was duly registered with the Registrar of Societies on 12 September 1984. The membership stretches way back to former attendees of the 1950s up to date, and is open to any alumna of the school. Established upon the alma mater's maxim "Servire Est Regnare" (In Service Is Perfect Freedom, shortened to "To Serve Is To Reign"), the Society is a non-political, non-profit, voluntary association of members drawn from the alumnae of The Kenya High School for girls ("Bomarians"), with a mission to promote collaboration with the school and networking amongst members, while leaving a legacy of positive impact and sustainability.
The KHS Legacy Family with the most generations (three) of students of the school begins with Mrs. Rebecca Munyeke Kithyoma (née Munyeke, attended 1965-1969, Class of 1969/71, Hamilton House). Her daughters - Alison Nthenya Ndanu (née Kithyoma, Class of 1987/89, Galana House), Waeni Kithyoma (Class of 1993, Tsavo & Sabaki Houses), Vanessa Kithyoma (Class of 1996, Tausi House) and Angela Kithyoma (Class of 2003, Sabaki House) - as well as her granddaughter Rebekah Ndanu (Class of 2019, Mara House) are all Bomarians. She is also the longest-serving staff member having worked as the school secretary and Principal's assistant from 1970 to 2019 (49 years).
The 1984 founding committee of the KHS-OGA included:
Former and current Chairpersons and Presidents include:
As of December 2023 the society Patron is Adv. Betty Kaari Murungi (alumna Class of 1977/79, Nightingale House, Head of School 1979) who has been the First Lady of Siaya County since August 2022.
A number of Ivy League and Oxbridge graduates are alumnae of The Kenya High School, such as: