Kenya High School

Formal institutional education in the East Africa Protectorate began in October 1904, with the appointment of Mr A. J. Turner, of the Indian Educational Department, as Headmaster of the Railway School, Nairobi. 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. 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 A. J. Turner, The European School, Nairobi.[2] This co-education primary school marks the beginnings of The Kenya High School. 1910 is considered the birth year of present-day Kenya High School.[3]

The school opened with 110 children and gradually increased the number until it obtained its maximum of about 250 children in 1918.[4] 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. In keeping with the government's then commitment to improving institutional education 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.[5]

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 Pillared Hall for assembly. The headmaster, Captain Bertram William Lothian Nicholson, is credited as the originator of the girls' schools' motte, Servire Est Regnare (To Serve Is To Reign).

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,[6] thought this to be too clumsy and therefore the name of The Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School)[7] was suggested and eventually adopted. Along with Lenana School, Nairobi School has always been referred to as The Kenya High School's brother school, as the two schools have maintained a cordial relationship over the years by inviting each other to their school events and sports galas.

In 1935, the school was renamed The European Girls' Secondary School and had its first Headmistress, Miss Kerby, appointed. In 1951, 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. At this point, it got its current name, The Kenya High School, and was modelled on the English public school and grammar school tradition.

The first ethnic African girl to be admitted in 1961 was Ann Mithamo. In 1974 the school was taken over by the government and it began to admit more African pupils and teachers. Pamela Ogot joined the faculty in May 1965 as the first ethnic African teacher, while the first ethnic African Headmistress, Mrs Rose Kariuki, served from January to July 1977, then handed over to Mrs. Margaret Wanjohi who went on to lead the school until 1999. It was during Mrs Wanjohi's tenure that she was also promoted as the first female Principal of a Kenyan institution. The first woman to serve on the Board of Governors (now known as the Board of Management) was Dr. Eddah Gachukia (1984 - 1988).[8] Following the establishment of three Secondary School Principals’ grades in the 2018 Career Progression Guidelines by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC),[9] the school's first headteacher to acquire the title of Chief Principal was Mrs Flora Mulatya.

The longest-serving staff member is Mrs. Rebecca Munyeke Kithyoma, who served as school secretary from 1971 to 2019.

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, along with Nairobi School (formerly Prince of Wales School) and Lenana School (formerly Duke of York School). All three schools still retain some English/British traditions handed down from the colonial settler era.

As a national school, The Kenya High School admits girls from across Kenya's 47 counties who have 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 over 1700 as of 2023. 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.[10]

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:

• Number Two in KCSE 2016
• Number One in KCSE 2019 with 76 students scoring straight As[11]
• Number Two in KCSE 2020 with 64 As
• Number Four in KSCE 2021 with 53 As

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 170+ students; all from the four different class/form levels. The symmetrical architectural design of the school[12] has two houses in each building except for the two in the middle (Nyali and Suswa), which are home to one house each. 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:

1. Tausi (formerly Huxley), together with
2. Sabaki (Kerby)
3. Chania (Beale), together with
4. Yala (Nightingale)
5. Nyali (Mortimer)
6. Suswa (Mitchell)
7. Sagana (Hamilton), together with
8. Naivasha (Bronte)
9. Mara (Curie), together with
10. Baden-Powell has retained its name, and is often referred to by its acronym, BP

Phased out day-scholar houses include:

1. Tsavo (Samburu | Northcote)
2. Galana (Elgon | Darling)
3. Amboseli (Stott)

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 consisting of a lecture theatre and laboratories for biology, physics, chemistry and home science. The Computer Centre was later constructed behind the lecture theatre.

The school's own chapel, which was dedicated between the late 1950s and early 1960s, sits between the boarding houses and tuition blocks.[13] 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 via the old dining hall (currently used for assemblies and other meetings), the school now has a recently constructed 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 is in the planning, with Ksh 7 million already earmarked for its completion.[14]

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 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 also 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-metre swimming pool, a gymnasium, several field hockey pitches and an athletics field, as well as tennis, basketball, netball and volleyball courts.

The school also has its own farm with cattle and crops.

The Kenya High School is also home to the country's first open-air theatre, The Oenone Theatre, named after a former student, Oenone Grellier (1922 - 1944)[15] 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 has been 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 central 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.

The Kenya High School has various levels charged with managing the school.

• The Board of Management (BoM)
• The Administration
• The Parents-Teachers Association (PTA)
• The Students' Council

Former students of school (Ex-Bomarians) are organised under The Kenya High School Old Girls' Association (internally called The Boma Alumnae Society), which was founded in 1984.[16] 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 "to serve is to reign," the Society is a non-political, non-profit, voluntary sorority of members drawn from the alumnae of The Kenya High School for girls, with a mission to promote collaboration with the school and networking amongst members, while leaving a legacy of positive impact and sustainability.

Former and current Chairpersons include:

• 2018-2020: Christine Rose Odera (Class of 1986/88) - deputised by Carole Osero-Ageng’o (Class of 1984/86)
• 2020-2022: Carol Namunyak Kirorei (Class of 2005, daughter of Mrs. Wanjohi's former Deputy Principal, Mrs. Kirorei) - deputised by Joyce Mumina Gatambia (Class of 1991)
• 2022-2024: Louise Nyamu-Steinbeck (Class of 1991) - deputised by Hope Wandera (Class of 2013)

• 1935 - 1942: Grace Kerby
• 1942 - 1963: Miss J. A. M. Stott, second-longest serving Principal
• 1963 - 1967: Adrienne Leevers (a former Liberal politician from Hornsey, UK)
• 1967 - 1977: Vaudine Marguerite Barnes (1929 - 2006, daughter of Rev. L. A. Barnes of Wellington, New Zealand)
• January - July 1977: Rose Kariuki
• July 1977 - August 1999: Margaret Wanjohi, HSC, longest serving Principal (later director of Starehe Girls' Centre)
• September 1999 - July 2015: Rosemary Saina, HSC (later member of the Kenya National Examinations Council KNEC)[18]
• January 2016 - December 2022: Flora Mulatya, OGW MBS (as of January 2023 Education Attaché in Canberra at Kenya's diplomatic mission to Australia
• January 2023 to date: Virginia Wahome (immediate former Chief Principal at Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls High School)

• Official Website of The Kenya High School
• Boma Alumnae Society of The Kenya High School's LinkedIn Page