Hillcrest School (Nairobi, Kenya)

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This article is about a school in Nairobi, Kenya. For other schools named Hillcrest, go to the Hillcrest page.

Hillcrest Secondary School was founded in 1975, and was previously owned by politician Kenneth Matiba. It is situated on a 35-acre site in the Nairobi suburb of Karen. The school caters for the international, professional and local business communities. It is expensive, but only by local standards.

The school's facilities include 14 traditional classrooms, seven laboratories, a library, two art rooms, three 'A' level seminar rooms, a large multipurpose hall, a 25-metre swimming pool, two squash courts, four tennis courts, six full-size playing fields, a music centre with auditorium, an open-air amphitheatre, a gym, three computer laboratories, and a learning-support centre. A large new building is due to open in 2006, which incudes a Design and Technology Centre and a lecture theatre.

There is also a boarding house, Toad Hall, which sits on the school site capable of housing 16 girls and 16 boys.

The school year currently runs from September to July and IGCSE/'O' and 'A' level exams are set and marked by CIE (Cambridge International Examinations), AQA and Edexcel.

This co-educational school, of about 440 students, has its largest groups coming from Kenya and Britain. The staff are recruited from Britain and Kenya and are all on the same terms and conditions with two-year (renewable) contracts with the school.

The sixth form normally has 60 to 75 students in each year, most of whom continue to university, mainly in the UK, but also in the USA, Canada, Europe and South Africa.

The school has a few prominent alumni. These include Zain Verjee (currently an anchor woman at CNN international) and Jo Theones, a DJ at Fox FM in Oxford.