Friends School Kamusinga (FSK), popularly known as Kamu/Frischka, is a Kenyan

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

national school established in 1956 and located in

Kimilili Kimilili is a town and area in Kenya's Bungoma County. The area is occupied mainly by the Bukusu and few Teso communities it is a trading center for agricultural goods and services. The town has an urban population of 94,927. The surrounding regi ...

Bungoma County Bungoma County is a county in the former Western Province of Kenya. Its capital is Bungoma town. It has a population of 1,670,570 of which 812,146 are males 858,389 females as per the 2019 census and an area of 2,069 km2. It has nine constitu ...

, Kenya. The school is located 400 kilometres from Kenya's capital city,

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

. It is annually ranked among the top schools nationwide in KCSE and has many notable alumni across business, creative arts, sports, engineering and politics. Kamusinga is regarded as an academic and extra-curricular giant for its superior performance in national examinations of KCSE and in nationwide and

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

n regional extra-curricular competitions of

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, science congress, drama and music festival competitions over the years.

History

The school was established by Allan Bradley (a British Native who died aged 90 in February 2000) in 1956 as a transfer unit for ''Friends School Kaimosi'' from

Kaimosi Kaimosi is a town in western Kenya, heavily influenced by Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements (" ...

Vihiga County Vihiga County is an administrative region in the former Western Province of Kenya whose headquarters are in Mbale, the largest town in the county. The county has a population of 554,622 (2009 census) and an area of 563 km2. Formally a di ...

. He is remembered by the school by holding an annual intra-school

sports tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

dubbed 'Allan Bradley's Day', held on 18 February of every year. The first ''Allan Bradley's Day Tournament'' was on 18 February 2006. The school continues to maintain relations with members of the Allan Bradley family such as Ruth Bradley and Peter Bradley who find possible ways to support the school whenever possible.

Academics

National exam performance

The school produced the best 2006 K.C.S.E. (

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is an academic qualification taken at the completion of secondary education in Kenya. The first KCSE exam was held in 1989 at the same time as the last Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education (K ...

) national candidate, Dickens Omanga. Due to scrapping of school rankings nationwide by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, the ranking of the school is not available since 2018. Based on performance comparison the school boasts production of the highest number of A, A- and B+

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...

compared to most schools in the country, making it still one of the top schools in the country. In 2011, before ranking was abolished, the school ranked 12th nationwide. In 2016 it ranked 4th. In 2017 it emerged position 15. In 2021 it ranked 7th nationally.

Administration

The school is headed by Omunyin Omuzigidi, who took over the helm in January 2023; he was formerly the senior master of the school. The school was previously headed by Protus Ndombi from 2018 to January 2023. He retired in January 2023.

Notable former staff

1960s

Nicolas Guy Barnett was a British teaching member of staff between 1960 and 1961. He later became member of parliament of

South Dorset South Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Richard Drax, a Conservative. The constituency was created as a consequence of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, although the area cover ...

between 1962 and 1964, and later

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

between 1971 and 1986 in the 42nd and 45th

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

1990s to present

The school was previously headed by

Simon Nabukwesi Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

who headed the school from 1998 to January 2009, when he was appointed as Kenyan ambassador to Canada in a series of diplomatic appointments by Kenya's 3rd president

Mwai Kibaki Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013 and is regarded as one of Kenya's founding fathers. He had previously ser ...

. Before Nabukwesi's helm at the school,

Christopher Khaemba Christopher Situma Khaemba is a Kenyan educator, and the former Dean of the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in South Africa. Khaemba became the first Dean of the ALA in September 2008, moving from his role as principal of Alliance High School ...

was the principal from 1995 to 1998 before transferring to Alliance High School as principal, and thereafter to

African Leadership Academy The African Leadership Academy (ALA) is an educational institution located in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, for students between the ages of 16 to 19 years old, with current alumni coming from 46 countries. Founded in 2004 by ...

as the school's founding

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa. He is currently the director and co-founder of the Nova Pioneer Academies, which operates in Kenya and South Africa.

Departments

The school comprises ten departments that oversee the school programs and curricular activities. These are the Examination Department,

Technical Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

Department,

Sciences Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Department,

Math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Department, Swahili & Other Languages Departments, English &

Libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

Department, Games Department, Boarding Department, School

Worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition ...

Program Department, and Guidance &

Counselling Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes. This is a list of co ...

Department. The heads of each department are appointed by the Teachers Service Commission.

Board of Governors

The school has a

board of governors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

(B.O.G.) and Parents Teachers Association (P.T.A.) organs that assist the school administration in leadership and management.

Student admission

Every year, 300 students are selected based on academic merit and quota as per the Kenyan standard

education policy Education policy consists of the principles and policy decisions that influence the field of education, as well as the collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education systems. Education governance may be shared between the local ...

. Academic merit is based on performance on the K.C.P.E. (

Kenya Certificate of Primary Education The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) is a certificate awarded to students after completing the approved eight-year course in primary education in Kenya. The examination is supervised by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), a ...

) exams. Its quota system ensures that the school admits boys from every county in the country, though with bias to students from public schools as the current education policy requires. Students are admitted on a need-blind basis. At any given time, there are needy students whose tuition and boarding fees are paid by parties other than their parents or guardians.

Matriculation and university enrollment

On average the school's final year candidates get up to 98% admission into top universities in the country by merit through standard Kenyan

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

placement procedures for students who have excelled on the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. By virtue of the school's ranking over the years, with most students scoring A, A- and B+, most students get into university through merit.

Emblem

School seal

The

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

is a cheetah poised on its back limbs which appears to be

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

ing the air. A

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

is floated below the emblem, reading "Use Common Sense".

Student life

Culture

Upon arrival, every form 1 student is assigned to a 'guardian' who is a form 2 student who will help the new student find his way around the school in the first few weeks. The school had a compulsory use of full

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...

set – fork, spoon and knife – during meals(currently only a spoon is required), which was resisted by shagz-modos, but most students and

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

are now grateful as it accounts for their refined

etiquette Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...

. Various platforms like the drama and music competitions provide students with a chance to showcase their talents. The drama

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

organizes the biggest comic show of the entire year called "Talents Night" where students

simulate A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

the Monday morning

school assembly A school assembly is a gathering of all or part of a school for purposes, such as special programs or communicating information basis. In some schools, students gather to perform a common song or prayer, and to receive common announcements. A ro ...

and imitate their teachers. Students are also given a chance to showcase their talents during the interclass and interhouse competitions.Disciplines of all sorts including indoor sports are showcased.

Houses

The school has fifteen houses: * Victory House * Elgon House * Muliro House * Nyerere House * Kenya House * Aggrey House * Jamuhuri House A Jamuhuri House B * Amugune House * Allan Bradley House * Kenyatta House * Nakhisa House * Chetambe House * Harambee House * Nyayo House * Mailu House

Prefects

The prefects are key to the running of the school. They see that the school routine and

school rule School discipline relates to actions taken by teachers or school organizations toward students when their behavior disrupts the ongoing educational activity or breaks a rule created by the school. Discipline can guide the children's behavior or ...

s are adhered to. They have the

authority In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''The N ...

punish Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular ac ...

culprits via the prefect's punishment department. Punishments include

washing Washing is a method of cleaning, usually with water and soap or detergent. Washing and then rinsing both body and clothing is an essential part of good hygiene and health. Often people use soaps and detergents to assist in the emulsification of ...

corridors and rooms and in some extreme cases, working in the school farm or tending to flowerbeds. Punishees are announced on parade everyday of the week and assigned for punishment. A total of about 110 prefects are chosen each year. 24 of the most outstanding prefects are given top honors in becoming Senior Prefects or Captains. These Captains are allocated various major departments in the school. The school's departments include: * Dining Hall * Entertainment * Games * Library * Computer Lab * Medical * Academic

Extra-curricular activities

Sports

Kamusinga offers its students opportunities to play various sports and join teams that participate in various tournaments. The sports include swimming,

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

, rugby,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and soccer. School Swimming Pool

Field hockey

The school has won Kenya national secondary schools games in hockey 19 times as well as East Africa regional hockey games 18 times since 1999, except for 2010, 2015 and 2017 since the introduction of the game in the school in 1997.

Basketball

The school has a basketball team referred to as the Tigers. The school has represented the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

at the nationals since 2004. In 2009 it was the first runner-up while in 2011 it was the 2nd runner-up at the K.S.S.S.A. (Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association) national term 1A ball games. Over the years the school has continued to be one of the best basketball teams in the country and east Africa games because of its sterling performance.

Drama

The school's dramatics club has over the years represented Western Province in the National Drama festivals in the Narrative category, winning in the whole country and entertaining the head of state from 1999 until 2006. The drama club at the time was headed by Mark Mutali Chetambe and Isaac Shitubi. They produced various narrators and actors including Isaac Mwaura, Augustine Oluoch, John Paul Wafula and Jimmy Wanjala. in 2019 other actors like Brandon Karoli and Bakuli Hemed emerged

Science Congress

The school has a Science Congress team which is currently ranked 'The Best Boys School in Kenya', 'Best School in Science' nationally in the field and overall ranked fifth nationally.

Clubs and societies

There are over 20 clubs and societies including the Amateur Radio Club, the Dramatic Society, Law and

Debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

Club, Scouting, the White Fingers

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

Initiative, the Computer Club, Science Congress, the International Information Exchange Program Club, the School Choir, the Science and

Robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

Club, the

Integrity Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Inte ...

Club, the Writers' Club, the Poetry Society, Kiswahili Club, the

Model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

United Nations, the Christian Union, and Muslim Association.

Notable alumni

* Henry Chakava, Kenyan publisher * Benjamin Cheboi, first governor of

Baringo County Baringo County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya. It is located in the former Rift Valley Province. Its headquarters and largest town is Kabarnet. The county is home to Lake Baringo. Geographical location Baringo bounded by Turkana County and ...

, currently a politician affiliated to URP party *

Chris Kirubi Christopher John Kirubi (20 August 1941 – 14 June 2021), born in Murang'a county, was a Kenyan businessman, entrepreneur, and industrialist. He was a director at Centum Investment Company, a business conglomerate, of which he was the largest ...

, businessman, entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist. Served as a director of

Centum Investment Company Centum Investment Company Plc, commonly known as Centum is a public East African investment company. It operates as an affiliate of the Kenyan government-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC). Overview Centum is a pu ...

* Kakai Kissinger, human rights activist and attorney, former Chief Registrar of the

Judiciary of Kenya The Judiciary of Kenya is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in Kenya. After the promulgation of the constitution of Kenya in 2010, the general public, through parliament, sought to reform the judiciary. Parliament passed the ...

Kenneth Lusaka Kenneth Makelo Lusaka (born 18 September 1963) is the 2nd and current governor of Bungoma County. Previously, he served as the speaker of Senate 017 -2022and was the 1st Governor of Bungoma County in Kemya, a term he served between 2013 - 2017 ...

, Speaker of the

Senate of Kenya The Senate of the Republic of Kenya is one of the two Houses of the Parliament of Kenya, along with the National Assembly. The Senate was first established as part of Kenya's 1963 Constitution. After being abolished in 1966, the Senate was ...

, first governor of

* Cleopa Kilonzo Mailu, Kenya's ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations World Trade and former Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Health * Cleophas Malala, senator, Kakamega County * Mubarak Muyika,

Internet entrepreneur An Internet entrepreneur is an owner, founder or manager of an Internet-based business. This list includes Internet company founders and people brought on to companies for their general business or accounting acumen, as is the case with some Chie ...

and businessman *

Ferdinand Omanyala Ferdinand Omanyala Omurwa (born 2 January 1996) is a Kenyan sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. In 2022, he won his first international championships, with victories in the 100 m at the Commonwealth Game ...

, sprinter and

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

record holder * Tylor Ongwae Okari,

player for

Bakken Bears Bakken Bears is a Denmark, Danish professional basketball club based in Aarhus. The club plays in the Basketligaen, the top tier basketball league in Denmark. Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 20 times and holds the record for t ...

and Kenya's National Basketball Team *

Moses Wetangula Moses Francis Masika Wetang'ula (born 13 September 1956), is the current Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, as well as leader of the FORD-Kenya party. He served in the government of Kenya as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 20 ...

, served in the

Government of Kenya , image = , caption = Coat of arms of Kenya , date = 1963 , jurisdiction = Republic of Kenya , url = http://www.mygov.go.ke/ , legislature = Parliament of Kenya , meeting_place = ...

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between coun ...

2008–2010 and 2011–2012; Minister for Trade 2012–2013

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Kenya, Schools Boys' schools in Kenya Quaker schools Education in Western Province (Kenya) Bungoma County 1956 establishments in Kenya Educational institutions established in 1956 High schools and secondary schools in Kenya