GLOBUS

Lenana High School, Nairobi

KUMOMORU DONALD KARIRO

Hello ! Welcome to my school. The name of my school is LENANA SCHOOL. Lenana is the name of a great traditional leader of a community called Maasai / Illmaasai who led his community in resisting the British colonialists between 1878 and 1901. The name Lenana was hence used because the location of our school and its surrounding was originally occupied by his community. I myself belong to this community. My school is located on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital city of our country : Kenya. It’s about 15 Km from the city center. Our school is very old having stayed for 56 years since it was built in 1949 by the British during the colonial times. It was built for the purpose of raising and educating European children, but afterwards in the 1960’s African children started being admitted into the school after independence.
My school is a boarding school. It’s called so because students don’t go back home the moment they finish school. Students stay in school for three months before going back home for their holidays. Necessities are catered for in the school during opening days, hence students have no reason to go back home. Other basic needs like food and lodging are provided by the school. At the beginning of the term each student makes a contribution of Ksh 24 000, about 300 US dollars, as school fees which is used for running and managing the school. My school is very well managed for smooth running and achievement of set objectives. From the highest rank is the board of governors [b.o.g.] chairman, Mr. Njuguna, the principal Mr. Warui and the school captain who is a student. The school has got both the teaching and the subordinate staff. The teaching staff is made up of teachers who teach a variety of subjects. Starting with the female teachers : Mrs. Juma, Mrs. Mganga and many others. The male teachers include Mr. Warui (who is the principal, a short and outspoken man), Mr. Keengwe and many others. The subordinate staff comprises of watchmen, cooks and farm workers. The school has a population of about 1 000 students. Each stream has got about 230 students. My class is form 3L. My class teacher is Mrs. Mganga. She teaches English. The buildings in our school are built in a decentralized manner. This is whereby the tuition block, staffroom and laboratories are situated in one place but our hostels are far from the tuition block and even from each other. There are ten hostels in my school where each accommodates about 100 students. We have got several labs in our school, including physics, biology, chemistry, and computer laboratory consisting of about 30 computers donated by our old boys. Our school is well known in the whole republic for producing good rugby players. Rugby is the most popular and most loved sport in our school. The surrounding of my school is very beautiful with monkeys and trees all over. Although our school is in Nairobi, we don’t all come from Nairobi. Many of us come from the other Kenyan provinces such as the Rift Valley, Coast, Nyanza, Western, Central and North Eastern provinces. In our school there are different religions e.g. Protestants, Catholics and Muslims. We have got big protestant and catholic chapels and one mosque on your way to the school farm. That’s all I had to say and for now BYE BYE! Here we say KWAHERI.

By Aquinas High School, Nairobi

Willis Keya
Brian Waite
Francis Kimani
John Otieno

Our school, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, is situated in the capital’s (Nairobi City) well known Eastlands area, Makadara. Catholic missionaries founded it, the prominent one being St. Thomas Aquinas (the school was named after him). Their main aim was spreading the gospel and enlightening the Kenyans.
The school began with a low influx of students, majority being foreigners. Its population gradually grew through the years with the minority of the Kenyans becoming the majority. Eventually Aquinas caught up with the academic glamour and soon earned itself a provincial status, by setting up an exemplary performance in co-curricular activities, reigning in Music and Drama where we managed to scoop top position countrywide. In 2004 we sent our Music group to the U.S.A. displaying cultural songs we have in Kenya and also forming the Boys Choir of Kenya (BCK). Also the school has produced top basketball players in the country. Currently we are the reigning Nairobi basketball and handball champions echoing our school motto : VENI VIDI VICI (We Came We Saw We conquered).
Recently Aquinas has been incorporating boarding facilities for its students and in less than three years more than half its population is conformed of boarders. Our hope is that by the year 2007 Aquinas will offer boarding facilities to all students.
Academically, a steady rise in the school’s performance has been noted thus to ensure a promising team in the near future.
Our school hosts over 700 students with an average of about 45 students per class. There are four streams each consisting of four classes, 4 labs (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer), a Drawing and Design room, two workshops (Metal and Wood workshops), a Library, a Scout’s room and 5 dormitories.
We have 42 teachers : Mrs. Dulo (English), Mrs. Maundu (Chemistry), Mrs. Ouma (Kiswahili), Mrs. Makunda (Physics), Mrs. Kosgei (Maths), Mr. Maina (Metal work), Mr. Wara (Computer), Mr. Gitau (Drawing and Design), Mrs. Thuku (History), Mrs. Thumbi (Biology), Mrs. Anam (Geography), Mr. Njenga (Wood work), Mr. Ng`ang`a (Computer), Mrs. Githigi (Commerce), Mrs. Mugambi (English), Mrs. Ojode (English), Mr. Kabiru, Mrs. Chege (Chemistry), Mr. Luseno (Chemistry), Mrs. Midamba (Commerce), Mrs. Kioko (Biology), Mrs. Otieno, Mrs. Towet (Kiswahili), Mrs. Nthakanio (History), Sister Momanyi (Geography), Mrs. Bosire (Kiswahili), Mrs. Kebenei (Kiswahili), Mrs. Abuya (Kiswahili), Mrs. Otunga (Agriculture), Mrs. Ochola (Maths), Mr. Kiruga (Mathematics), Mrs. Mwaniki (Maths/Chemistry), Mr. Irungu (Maths), Miss Gichure (English), Mrs. Situma (Deputy Principal) and Mr. Muthee (Principal).
Our club (Computer club) is young and fresh. It started recently, its founders being Willis Keya, David Njuguna, Patrick Maina, Jackson Gwayi and Victor Olang. It is well coordinated and regulated with lots of hope for the future. We are simple and take things nice and slow. Being a new club we have not done a lot but we have been involved in several meetings and interclub competitions like basketball, handball, football and volleyball. This program will be very helpful for our growth and will help us encourage a lot of students to join. Members include : David Njuguna (Chairman), Patrick Maina (Vice Chairman), Jackson Gwayi (Secretary), Victor Olang (Treasurer), Willis Keya, Brian Waite, Francis Kimani, John Otieno, Mark Kirowo, Allan Wahome, Edrins Nganga, Eric Ruga, Milton Osuma, Antony Owich.

About ourselves :

Name : Willis Keya
Date of Birth : 10th November
Hobbies : Socializing, watching movies (comedies), listening to music and playing video games.
Dislikes discrimination.

Name : Brian Waite
Date of Birth : 13th January
Hobbies : Playing basketball, watching movies, listening to music.
Likes traveling and anything fun.
Dislikes anything boring.

Name : Francis Kimani
Date of birth : 2nd December
Hobbies : Reading the bible, traveling and visiting friends.
Likes listening to music, socializing and praying.
Dislikes ignorance and sinning.

Name : John Otieno
Date of Birth : 8th April
Hobbies : Drawing
Likes reading, traveling, listening to music and playing video games.
Dislikes terrorism and corruption.

By Nairobi School, Nairobi

MOBBY M.M
EDWIN N.M
ABDULRAZAK
ROBERT N.O
KEITH M.K

A brief history of our school :
1929 : The foundation stone of the School was laid on 24th September 1929 by Sir Edward Grigg, in the area directly beneath the Clocktower. Under the foundation stone was placed a copy of the then East African Standard and coins of the colony at that time were placed. Generations of boys would walk over this stone daily.
1931 : The headmaster felt the old name ‘Kabete Boys Secondary School’ was too clumsy and it was given the name Prince of Wales School. As a special case, the Prince of Wales feathers were to be inserted between the horns of a Royal Impala as the School badge, accompanied by the school motto "TO THE UTTERMOST".
1942 : European education was made compulsory and enrolment increased so much that new temporary classrooms were needed.
1945 : Sanatorium and School Hall were built. A sixth house was created as was Junior House.
1953 : Swimming pool built.
1956 - 1958 : Science Block (4 laboratories), Metal and Wood Workshops built.
1958 : School Chapel built.
1962 : The School became multiracial with 5 Africans and 4 Asian boys admitted.
1965 : The first black African teacher was appointed to the staff in January 1965, Mr. James Gitau who taught mathematics. The name of the School changed from The Prince of Wales School to Nairobi School at the end of 1965, and was officially adopted for the start of term in January 1966.
1967 : Art Room built.
1968 : Two Chemistry laboratories built.
1971 : Three Biology laboratories built. House names were changed :
Clive became Elgon
Grigg became Kirinyaga
Hawke became Baringo
Nicholson became Serengeti
Rhodes became Athi
Scott became Marsabit
2001 : Mr. R.N.M. Masese appointed as Headmaster.
There are 1 060 students at school right now. The school is divided into 4 classes : Forms 1, 2, 3 and 4. Each class is divided into 6 streams, A, D, K, M, S, T. A total of 24 classes and 80 members of staff.