St. Andrews School, Turi

St. Andrews School is a preparatory and secondary boarding school situated near Nakuru, Kenya near the town of Molo. It is often referred to simply as "Turi" after its location near to a village of the same name.

The school today has pupils from Kenya and East African surrounding countries, but also has a large ex-patriot population of students, many the sons and daughters of Protestant missionaries. As the curriculum is broadly British and many of the teachers are British trained, pupils are often children of British families resident in Kenya. On returning to the UK, many ex-Turi pupils tend to go to the private Christian schools Stowe School in Buckingham,Dean Close School in Cheltenham or Monkton Combe School in Bath.

The present headmaster of the preparatory school is Paddy Moss and the senior school headmaster is Adrian Palmer.

History

The prep school was founded in 1931 by Mr and Mrs Lavers, affectionately known as "Ma and Pa Lavers", to provide education for the children of local farmers. The first school had 15 children but has steadily grown to serve over 100 children by the 1940's from Kenya and Uganda. In 1944 the school was burnt to the ground after a fire in a kitchen. The Kenyan government gave permission for Italian prisoners of war to help construct a new school as the estimated cost of rebuilding was very high. The crest of the school features a phoenix rising from the flames, and an annual bonfire night commemorates this episode in the school's history. The school's hey day was undoubtedly during the late 1950s when the Lavers were at their prime and the new buildings were finished. In 1988 the secondary school was opened for 13 to 16 year old children.

The school has a fine tradition of academic excellence and sporting achievement, competing with other Kenyan boarding schools such as Greensteads, Pembroke, Braeburn, Peponi, Banda and Hillcrest.

External links

* [http://www.standrewsturi.com/ St. Andrews, Turi Homepage] The prep school was founded in 1931 by Mr and Mrs Lavers, affectionately known as "Ma and Pa Lavers", to provide education for the children of local white colonial farmers. The first school had 15 white children but has steadily grown to serve over 100 children by the 1940's from British East Africa. In 1944 the school was burnt to the ground after a fire in a kitchen. The Kenya colonial government gave permission for Italian prisoners of war to help construct a new school as the estimated cost of rebuilding was very high.

The crest of the school features a phoenix rising from the flames, and an annual bonfire night commemorates this episode in the school's history. The school's hey day was undoubtedly during the late 1950s when the Lavers were at their prime and the new buildings were finished. In 1988 the secondary school was opened for 13 to 16 year old children.

The school has a fine tradition of academic excellence and sporting achievement. Over the years a strong sporting rivalry has existed between Turi and the predominantly American missionary school Rift Valley Academy, situated in Kijabe, Kenya.

St Andrews Turi had a long lasting rivaly with Pembroke school because most of the students at Pembroke were white therefore meaning they were farmers children or teachers children. Turi always dreaded having to play them in a sports game because they had strong teams.However this all began to change in the year starting september 2005 when a strong year 8 sporting team rose up to win all sporting events put in front of them. The team cosisted of recognisable young sportsmen such as Craig Odhiambo and his cousin Nelson Okuna,Ted Malumbe,Franklin Vroljik, Marc and Alistair Kiwana, Kim Kasule, Anthony Byaruhanga and Jovin Kiwanuka among others.

The school is now undergoing prestigous construction of an A level section to increase the school's already faboulous education.Along the erection of the Chris Ndegwa Sports Facility the school is set to enter a new golden age in education.

Notable alumni

*Douglas Carswell

Related links

* [http://www.rva.org/ Non-Official Website of Rift Valley Academy]
* [http://www.stowe.co.uk/ Stowe School]
* [http://www.deanclose.co.uk/ Dean Close]