The Nairobi School is a secondary school in Nairobi, Kenya. It follows the national curriculum, is one of Kenya's national schools and also one of the 18 prestigious Cluster III secondary schools.
It was founded in by the British settlers who had made Nairobi their home after the construction of the Uganda Railway. In , the boys' secondary school was moved to a acre allotment in the Kabete area along Sclater's Road, today's Waiyaki Way , leaving the girls behind with the primary school pupils. Nicholson,[12] thought this to be too clumsy and therefore the name Prince of Wales School , following Kenya's independence, it was renamed Nairobi School in The school is popularly referred to as 'Patch'.
Nairobi School was established in around the present day Nairobi Railways Club as a European school to serve the families of the I. Company and, a while later, the white settler community. Due to the foresight of Lord Delamere in proposing the building of a senior Boys school now Nairobi Primary , and the support of the then Governor, Sir Edward Grigg , the railway reserve grounds near Kabete were set aside for future use.
Captain B. Nicholson, R. Captain Nicholson designed the school uniform and discipline based on the British naval system; meanwhile Mrs. Nicholson and Rev. Gillett worked on the gardens of the new School. On 24 September the foundation stone was laid by Sir Edward Grigg, Governor of Kenya colony, for a school with a capacity of 80 boys. Under the stone was preserved a copy of the newspaper of the day. The School opened in , not only for the 80 boys it was designed, but with 84 boarders and day boys.
Enrolment proved higher than initially anticipated, requiring new classrooms. Due to a general shortage of cement, the first wooden classrooms were erected around It was called 'Lacey's Landies'. The effects of the war were felt more when the Italians joined in June , including the fear of bombing, and it was made a day school. In June , a military hospital took over the buildings and the students were moved back to the European Nairobi School the present Nairobi Primary School.
