Public senior school
Nairobi School
A senior school in Westlands sub-county, Nairobi County. It offers STEM, Social Sciences and Arts & Sports Science, with 29 subject combinations.
School details admission facts are for the 2026 intake
- Cluster
- C1Ministry of Education senior-school cluster.
- Gender
- Boys
- Boarding or day
- Boarding
- 2026 fees
- KSh 53,554 or 40,535 per year, depending on the approved tierGovernment-set schedule, not an individual school invoice.
- Ownership
- Public
- Founded
- 1902
- Motto
- To the Uttermost
Not released yet for the January 2027 intake. Last year: 19 December 2025. KEMIS placement portal · Get an alert when they’re released.
KCSE results 2021–2025
Nairobi School scored a mean of 9.54 (B+) in KCSE 2025, 4.7 points above the national average, up from 9.23 in 2024. Over 2018–2025 it ranks 31st of 564 schools in Kenya with 3 or more years of published results.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | 9.537 | 9.228 | 8.837 | 9.540 | 9.000 |
| Grade | B+ | B | B | B+ | B |
| Candidates | 602 | 543 | 541 | 503 | 526 |
Pathways and subject combinations checked 15 October 2026
STEM25 combinationsPure Sciences 6 · Applied Sciences 7 · Technical Studies 12
Social Sciences3 combinationsHumanities & Business Studies 3
Arts & Sports Science1 combinationSports 1
Subjects in these combinations · 20
Agriculture, Aviation, Biology, Building & Construction, Business Studies, Chemistry, Christian Religious Education, Computer Studies, Electricity, French, General Science, Geography, German, History & Citizenship, Media Technology, Metal Work, Physics, Power Mechanics, Sports & Recreation, Theatre & FilmSenior schools in Nairobi County offering STEM · Social Sciences · Arts & Sports Science
Codes and registration
- KNEC code
- 20400002
- UIC
- GHXC
- School code
- P1010251
- Level
- Senior school
- Sponsor
- Central Government/DEB
- Student needs
- Ordinary
School figures most recent counts
- Students enrolled
- 1,969
- Teaching staff
- 111
- TSC teachers
- 70
- Board teachers
- 41
- Classrooms
- 38
- Dormitories
- 8
- Laboratories
- 9
- Libraries
- 1
- Dining halls
- 3
- Toilets
- 140
- Transition to university or college after KCSE 2023
- 482
School history
Nairobi School began in 1902 as the European Nairobi School, a few rooms near Nairobi’s railway station on the grounds of today’s Railway Club, set up for European children. In 1916 it moved to Protectorate Road, now Mamlaka Road, where Nairobi Primary School stands today.
In the 1920s the colonial government planned a new boys’ secondary school near Kabete, designed by the architect Sir Herbert Baker. Its foundation stone was laid on 24 September 1929. The school opened in 1931 and that year took the name Prince of Wales School, with the Prince of Wales’s three ostrich feathers on its badge. The old school was split into three: Nairobi Primary School, a girls’ secondary school that later became the Kenya High School, and the Prince of Wales School for boys. During the Second World War part of the school served as a military hospital.
The school admitted its first African and Asian students in 1962 and was renamed Nairobi School at the end of 1965. Today it is a national boys’ boarding school on Waiyaki Way in Westlands, Nairobi. Its motto is “To the Uttermost”.
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Data sources
School history and updated details use the sources below. Other details come from the 2013 school data. Classification and codes come from the 2026 senior-school register.
Register, pathways and fees
- Ministry of Education Grade 10 selection portal (KEMIS) pathways, combinations, emblem · checked 15 October 2026
- December 2025 senior-school list, row 136 classification and codes
- June 2025 senior-school register, row 6607 checked 1 October 2026
- Kenya Gazette Notice No. 1449 2026 fee schedule
KCSE results
- KNEC for 2006–2010, the school’s audit reports and newspapers since: every source, on the results page 2006–2025
2013 school data
- Kenya Open Data Initiative 2013 school data
Map
- © OpenStreetMap contributors; county outline: IEBC via UN OCHA map data
School profile
- Auditor-General’s report for the year ended 30 June 2025
- Auditor-General’s report for the year ended 30 June 2024
- Business Daily, Nairobi School’s journey through racial discrimination (2016, updated 2020)
- The Standard, Why Freemasons buried coins beneath Nairobi School
- Old Cambrian Society, history of the school
- Old Cambrian Society, the school badge
- Nairobi School website
- OpenStreetMap, Nairobi School grounds
- Business Daily, Long and winding education journey of The Kenya High School (2017, updated 2020)