Form I Student Selection

Our principal and three teachers have spent the past two days in Eldoret for Form I student selection. When they returned to school today they were ecstatic. Jomo, the Academic HOD said, "We are the hot cake." I had to ask what that meant.

First a little background . . .
When Standard 8 students (8th graders) take the KCPE (Kenya Comprehensive Primary Exam) they indicate three secondary schools they would like to attend. Their scores determine whether they are able to attend one of their choices. The Department of Education looks at this information when assigning students to schools, but in the past their personal choices really had little weight. This year, however, they gave students to their first choice schools if they had a high enough score on the exam. I guess there were even some schools in our area that didn't have any students request them! How embarrassing would that be!

We were given 184 students who scored high enough to qualify for our school and listed us as their first choice. The best news is that their scores are higher than we've ever received before. In the past our KCPE scores were in the 320s to 370s. This year the lowest score to be admitted to St. Monica's is 357. We even have several that scored above 400 out of 500 marks.

In the past there have always been several no shows basically because they don't like the school they were assigned to and want to find a better one. Last year we had over 50 no shows probably because parents didn't want their young daughters to be so far away from home during the election. Since all 184 students requested St. Monica's that means they'll show on the first day unless there is a problem with fees. That means we can start classes with them immediately and have high expectations of them from the very beginning.

"We are the hot cake" means we have arrived; we are the hot item, the hot seller, the popular choice. People are seeking us out and want their daughters to come to our school. It's a reflection of our 2012 KCSE scores. We really can say we are one of the top schools in our area.

You can sense an excitement, a sense of pride in both the girls and staff. Last year’s Form IV was a difficult class with many discipline problems. This year’s Form IVs, are motivated and well behaved students. They are true leaders. We expect even higher scores from this group than in 2012.


Meanwhile, we are waiting for the Form Is to arrive on February 6th.