Mary Leakey Girls’ High School is located in Lower Kabete, Kiambu County.
It is a public girls’ secondary school categorized as C2 under the new Competency-Based Education (CBE) curriculum.
In 1900, Reverend A.W. McGregor of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) arrived in Kikuyu-land as a pioneer missionary.
Having previously worked among the Taita in Taveta since 1892, Rev. McGregor initially considered land at Fort Smith but declined due to its violent history.
He eventually purchased land at Kabete, locally known as Mayombo (“the rocky place”), from Cege Kanyi of the Muthemba family.
History of Mary Leakey Girls’ High School
In early 1902, Rev. Harry Leakey joined him, continuing the work alongside his wife, Mary, and his companion, Miss Oakes.
Teaching included both boys and girls, though enrollment for girls remained slow initially. In 1904, missionary Alicia Higgnbotham joined, teaching sewing and basic reading.
By 1906, the Leakeys returned to Kabete, with several boys enrolled and the first two girl pupils, orphans under the care of a boy pupil, forming the initial nucleus of the girls’ school.
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In 1909, Mary Leakey opened a girls’ school on her veranda, allowing boarders to enroll. Boarding remained a unique feature in Kikuyu County CMS schools until 1921, though the school’s operations were irregular due to Leakey’s intermittent illness.
Between 1946 and 1948, the school was selected to establish Kenya’s first women’s teachers’ college, named Government African Girls’ Teachers College.
The college was later relocated to Embu in 1949. Sarah M. Gichuhi served as the matron and was trained as a domestic science teacher.
From 1950 to 1952, the school was headed by Comme, an Australian missionary.
During this period, it was known as the Kabete Intermediate Girls’ School and offered education up to Form Two, at which level the girls sat for the Kenya African Preliminary Examination (K.A.P.E).
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Performance
In 2024, the school recorded an average score of 7.4, with some students achieving an A− grade.
Between 2019 and 2022, the school’s KCSE performance remained consistent at a mean grade of C+.
In 2019, 271 candidates sat for the exam, achieving a mean score of 7.0369 points.
The following year, 252 students sat for the exam, with the mean score improving slightly to 7.4127 points.
In 2021, the number of candidates increased to 311, and the mean score was 7.0418 points. In that year, 246 students sat for KCSE, and the mean points dropped to 6.7358, though the overall grade remained C+.
School Contacts
The school is located in Lower Kabete, Kabete Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya. Correspondence can be sent to P.O. Box 23080–00604, Lower Kabete.
For inquiries, email [email protected]
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