We are happy to share some exciting news about the future of education at Nova Pioneer. In line with the Kenya Ministry of Education’s rollout of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) in Senior School at the start of the 2026 academic year, we are thrilled to announce the launch of our Senior School programme under the CBE curriculum. Over the past 18 months, our teams have been hard at work to ensure that we are ready for the Senior School rollout and this development marks a major step forward in enhancing the educational journey for our students.

At our Tatu City Campus, we will be offering ALL THREE pathways: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), Social Sciences, and Arts & Sports Science. We will offer TWO pathways at the Eldoret Campus and at the Athi River Campus, where we will be launching STEM and Social Sciences. 

Our offering across the Athi River, Eldoret and Tatu City campuses allows current students to transfer between campuses, allowing families to  choose from day, weekly boarding, or full boarding options; ensuring they can fully immerse themselves in their studies in an environment that best suits their needs. We continue to be committed to designing a student experience that ensures learners can pursue their interests and develop crucial skills for the future, all while being mindful of the costs associated with delivering the experience.

1. Innovation & Leadership Programme

Students hone in on Character, reflecting deeply on their  values and beliefs. They then develop skills that will help them solve real-world problems through the frameworks of innovation, social entrepreneurship, and leadership.

2. Beyond The Classroom Opportunities

We recognize the contribution of physical education and the arts to the health and well-being of our students and believe that a varied co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities have a positive influence on the concentration, attitude and academic achievement of all students. Thus, we offer a wide range of musical, arts and sports activities and the opportunity for students to participate competitively both locally and internationally in their chosen club or sport.

Challenging our students outside the classroom strengthens their teamwork, resilience and leadership skills. Our Novaneers build valuable skills and attitudes that become lessons for life through their extra-curricular activities.

3. Culture First

Our culture principles are cemented both inside and outside of the classroom, through collaboration on projects, sport and community engagement opportunities.

By exploring culture and integrating it as part of character development, our students take on daily challenges with a strong sense of purpose, service and innovation. 

4. Post School Success Programme

We have designed a unique programme with the purpose of facilitating each student’s exploration and understanding of themselves with a focus on post-secondary opportunities available to them. Our Class of 2023 received over $7,000,000 in scholarships from universities in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, and the United States of America (U.S.A).

Are you a Grade 9 (CBE) student or a parent looking ahead to Senior School? Join a school that sees your potential and prepares you for a future without limits.

Applications for 2026 are now open

To learn more about our CBE pathways, click on this link to put in an application and get invited to our next open day or get a chance to book a personalized tour of our campuses. 

On the 21st of June I had the pleasure to speak with Mr. John Nderitu who is currently the Global Alumni Coordinator at Nova Pioneer. My first natural question to John was, “Who are you and what do you do?”. In his own words, he describes himself as a student at the University of Nairobi in their Construction Management programme, a son, class representative, construction manager, Nova Pioneer alumnus and the Organising Secretary for the Construction Management course at the University of Nairobi. John’s current passion lies within construction because he enjoys the process and the vigour. 

 

Now that we know a little bit about John, we can dive into today’s subject matter; the experiences that John has had the pleasure of living through, the opportunities he had as a Nova Pioneer student, an intern at the organisation and now as a fulltime teammate.

 

Strong Culture

As an alumnus, John describes the culture instilled in the community as one that has allowed him to learn how to collaborate at the workplace and grow with others. He also feels that it has contributed to his positive growth as the CRESA organizing secretary which is a pro bono position that he enjoys and is grateful for. He has learnt the essence of scheduling and collaborative plenary. The skill of networking has also enabled him to engage with others, offering him opportunities most at his age never get to experience. There is also a keen focus on self development, and growth feedback sessions.

 

Connection

Because Nova Pioneer believes and invests in ensuring its students are connected to each other, experiences and opportunities, it was a natural transition for John to join the Learning Design team as an intern when he completed his K.C.S.E in 2019.  interest in seeing the backend of lesson design and the opportunities to give back to the Novaneer community as an intern was dear to him. His choice to join the Learning Design team is based on how crucial the work the team does is to the direct impact it has on students’ learning and outcomes. He wanted to be at the core of what makes learning at Nova Pioneer different, having experienced the unique learning model himself, as a former student. 

For John the opportunity within Learning and Design was very constructive. The belief that failure is and growth from it is acceptable and the opportunity to always call for help when you need it. He has had the uniquely distinct pleasure of working as an intern within Learning and Design for three different cycles. He really enjoyed the STEM department especially the practical versus theory and this was also compounded by his passion for the sciences which he carried forward from his high school experience. He may have evolved from sciences to construction but he is just as passionate about opportunities in this field. His successes were also facilitated by working with kind people who allowed him to flourish despite the age difference. 

John’s final words are, “ I am grateful to the Novaneer community for the opportunities accorded to me and to helping shape me into who I am today. I believe that the impact will live on”.

Do you want to learn more about the role Nova Pioneer’s Learning Design team plays in delivering our unique learning model across our 16 schools in Kenya and South Africa? Do you want to hear more stories on the impact our alumni are making across the globe? Join our next open day by filling out this form.

There’s something special about the Nova Pioneer Class of 2019 across Kenya and South Africa. The cohort of young men from Kenya and young women and men from South Africa were our first ever class to officially graduate from Nova Pioneer.

At the graduation ceremonies held towards the end of 2019 across Kenya and South Africa, there was a pervasive feeling of accomplishment and hope for the imminent year outside school. With 2020 just halfway through, it’s pretty clear that it’s been a tumultuous year.

We caught up with three of our alumni who are doing their part in making the most out of the year. Phillip (Nova Pioneer Boys, ‘19), Masego (Nova Pioneer Ormonde ‘19) and Jabu (Nova Pioneer Ormonde, ‘19), spent Friday evening with us on 1oth July. They gave us hope and encouragement through their stories of fortitude and perseverance.

You can catch up with their inspiring stories through the recorded recap down below.

Click on the links below to watch our previous episodes of Nova Pioneer Connect that takes place every fortnight.

Nova Pioneer Connect: Finding Your Inner Voice

Nova Pioneer Connect: Role of Creatives in Shaping a holistic Education Experience

Nova Pioneer Connect: Innovating And Adapting Education to COVID-19 at Nova Pioneer

 

In 2019, all eyes were on Nova Pioneer boys secondary school. When I say all eyes, I mean ALL eyes! This was the year that we were fronting our pioneer class for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) national exam and it would be the first point of proof of our model of teaching. The pressure had been building up both from inside quarters and our neighbours on the outside. Despite our certainty on our academic model and the success of our students, we had no record to refer to, no priors to lean on and certainly no other school to check against given that we are the first school in Kenya and I dare say around the continent, that is at the forefront of delivering education differently. Therefore, when we scored a mean of 7.3 with about 70% of our candidates getting a direct entry to universities in Kenya and many others getting opportunities to study abroad, we celebrated to mark this and give thanks to God and all those who worked to support this success.

In addition, in line with our culture, we were also celebrating our most outstanding students from the 2019 school year across Form 1 – Form 3 who had exhibited remarkable growth in living out our 6 culture principles, outstanding sports and club members and exemplary academic achievement. This was a day full of colour and excitement as our alumni and their parents, as well as parents of our continuing students joined us for the celebrations. The atmosphere was full of vibrancy as the school community joined hands to celebrate our young men who proudly carry the Nova Pioneer banner as they scale to new heights. 

 

The Celebration

The prize giving day was set to start at 9:30am with all guests, parents, teachers and students settled at the event venue at the Tatu City Campus. If you were there you would think we were expecting His excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya, please don’t take my word for it, ask Sila, a non-Nova friend of the team who was working with us to prepare the ground… Those were his exact words. (Mr. President, if by any chance you get to read this, we would love to host you in our next Prize giving day as our guest of honor).

We kicked off the event with our National Anthem and thereafter, our East Africa Community Anthem, both being led by our scouts. This was a patriotic moment for me; watching and celebrating as the Nova Pioneer alumni young men begin to shape the Kenyan, African century. At that moment, I paused to consider just how lucky I was to be a part of this family and just how blessed our young men are to be at this time, in this generation, in this school, under this learning model. Our young men from the Christian Union then led us through a time of praising to thank God for all His faithfulness. This was another moment to think back and just lift our hands in utmost thanksgiving.

 

Thoughts from the Alumni

We were excited to have our unconditionally supportive parents join us for this event. They wore their smiles and came in numbers. The parking lot and the driveway was a beehive of activities. Our top ten candidates of the 2019 class also arrived in style; looking taller and more mature than when we last saw them. What pride this was for their teachers! They each had a story to tell of how they are already taking courses as they wait to join the university in the coming months. They also spoke about how they are fitting in well into the world systems as a result of the preparation they received during their time at Nova Pioneer, how the small things we used to sweat while they were still students are making a big impact in their everyday life!! It is impossible to have missed the air of confidence that they exuded in expressing their experience so far in what they call “the world out there”.

Our team of very capable teachers and of course the student body sharply dressed in honor of the day were extremely excited to be a part of this day. We were also graced by the presence of our former principal, Mr. Charles Tsuma, our Co-founder and Director, Mr. Chris Khaemba and our East Africa Managing Director Ms. K. Danae Pauli. Our Guest speaker was Mr. Nyambego, a father to one of our young men in Form 4. Mr. Nyambego is also a  Director at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and currently serves as the PTA treasurer at the boys school in Tatu City.  

 

Words of Wisdom

Mr. Nyambego’s speech was particularly encouraging to the young men as he shared his life story and how he grew to the position of director level at his current work place. The young men were surprised to learn that he has quite the humble background and it was out of sheer determination and hard work that he made it this far. His story depicted moments of struggle, triumph and hard decisions, all of which have made him to be who he is today. This brought home the aspects of our culture principles of always growing and joy of learning, as he had moments of learning from his mistakes. There were also aspects of high expectations portrayed by the way he let go of his first job, because he knew he could push himself to achieve more, aspects of servant leadership, when he started off at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a trainer, serving others and aspects of solutions first when he had to make decisions and act on them to secure him a better future. He challenged the young men to take advantage of the many opportunities that they have at Nova Pioneer to shape their future. In his time, things were a little bit different, he said, and the enlightenment and support that students are getting at Nova Pioneer was far ahead from what he received during his time in school.

At Nova Pioneer, students get the 21st century classroom experience, engage in collaborative class work and projects, have a department in the school that is focused on helping them choose a career path (Post School Success team), teachers who are dedicated to their success and co-curricula activities that are intentional on bringing out their talents. In short, in this school, they are sure of advancement in character, capabilities and connections. Mr. Nyambego implored the students to make the most of what they have. He dared them to match their performance to the support they are receiving. He left them with the words of Collen Hlazo “When everyone is sitting, stand up! When everyone is standing, stand out! And when everyone is standing out, be the standard”.

 

Gratitude

Needless to say, the event was one that shall be etched in the minds of many Novaneers, for a long time. Given that this was our first of its kind, the standards, the joy, the pomp, the celebrations will only get bigger and better in years to come. 

It is always important to take a moment and celebrate each other and appreciate the efforts that everyone brings on the table to make our Nova Pioneer promise a reality every day, all day. The culture principle of Greater Together is one that carries a lot of weight when we consider all the strings that are pulled to make us the community that we are. The most enjoyable moment for the teachers was seeing their specific students being awarded. The student who made presentations was the greatest takeaway for most parents, especially the confidence with which they carried themselves. In addition to these, there was a resounding appreciation around the timeliness of activities and the evident organization of the entire event. 

Written by Brenda Ogutu (Dean of  Instruction & Learning at Nova Pioneer Boys’ High School – Tatu city).

Above all, I must begin by saying Thank you. Not only have I been given the glorious honor of trauma, nausea and fear for the last few days and hours — as I prepared this address that has probably made me shed some weight—I have also been given, now as I squint at the words of my speech and take deep breaths, the privilege to address the World’s Largest and greatest pool of creatives, academics, playmakers, innovators and leaders ever to have existed in this universe—give yourselves a round of applause!

I have wracked my mind and run through all the tiny layers of my core as I sought out to find the right words that I ought to say to you today. I have since come to the conclusion that I might probably lose all of you to a trance as you reminisce about the great times that we shared and your moments together as graduates. Though if there is anything you should take away are these two words Desirable Difficulty.

On January 17th 2016 most, if not all of you took a risk, a ginormous risk. A risk to join the fairly new, unknown, unreputed Nova Academies. I like many of you had other agendas and goals to join the prominent schools that had often made history and that were well acquainted with ‘success’ as well as notable alumni.

Well, we all threw away that dream when we first put on our uniforms and reported to school that evening. Our school presented a vision that was easily sold to our parents but that may have readily made as sulk at the idea. Through the thunderclouds, a great opportunity to write our own legacies and break the shoulders of giants in a bid to stand on our own grounds was manifested.

That was the best choice and since then we have shaken the continent. In Form 1 with our very own ‘Class Calc’ or calculator Onesmus Muiru and Adrian Wanjau Being the best at our first ever ‘academic funkie’ The National Math Contest, followed by another great triumph that saw the Chemistry team in Form 3 lift the position three trophy at the National Chemistry Contest both events held at the Alliance Girls Highschool.

These achievements were just the beginning of our takeover. We absorbed 8-4-4 with a twist and saw our academic journeys take a leap, with highlights such as Bust-A-Nerve, Stag chat—by our very own now in your Android Play Store. 

Outside the classroom we were on another level. We had a story to tell.

The pitch was small, dusty unlevel, with little to no grass and to make matters worse we had the sacred cursed palm tree that saw most if not all our balls burst and even to this day I believe the ball Jason kicked is still at the top of the tree.

I remember the pains so vividly, we played basketball in the upper Dining hall, with only one post, the populations in soccer and rugby then saw many of us struggle for places in the school team. Surely after this we were set to conquer the world. I mean what can go wrong? /short pause/ Now ask your neighbor What Happened?!

Despite the persistence and determination. We were scared, we were not ready for the center stage. We lost dozens of times—the 6-0 defeat against Alliance in soccer, the rugby team getting destroyed time and time again and not forgetting swimming. Wow, imagine participating in swimming competitions with no swimming pool to train in.

Through the losses and difficulties experienced, we saw members of staff such as Mr. Wachira and Mr. Abucheri together with Coaches John and Kioko transform our ‘cerelac’ bodies into celestial championship beings with a thirst for victory. Today the hope is to see the likes of Calvince Kaunda and Andrew Jones swim for the Kenya Team, to see our very own at the NBA playoffs and even Dao and the pros battling it out in Homeboys, Sharks or even KCB. We dream of more plays at the Liverpool stadium and more signings to clubs all over the world. We can do it!

Above all the greatest takeaways are from the hearts that have been formed through the flames of difficulty and failure. That have shown us that we can grow that we can shine! 

This Class holds rappers, like Nigel and Alufwani, businessmen like Lonny  Irungu and Jeremy Muchina, Artists like Jameel Issa, Adrian Nderitu and Joseph Chege, who brought us the Agachi and Project N series of comics, Innovators and Inventors like Phillip Mburu and his team, Scientists like Blaise Nyange, Kimani Kamau and remarkable leaders like Branson Limo, Kuria Kasumba, Wahome Munyeria and the likes not forgetting Killian Rono, Naphtalie and even Arthur Kanai.

This class has all it takes to build the world.

We owe it to the almighty for giving us hearts of stone that have enabled us to endure difficulties in our journeys. We owe it to our extremely supportive and encouraging teachers that have prepared us well to face KCSE. We owe it to Jacob and his team, Christine and Sunford’s team in the Kitchen and Bwana Parmuya and Jacob in the dormitory for making school worth living and enjoying.

Let us now recognize that despite the difficulties coming to an end here in school, we now ought to search and hope for tougher choices to make, harder fights to win, more risks, more failures, and more chances and opportunities to prove ourselves fit for the job. Let us take the big risks, that they may scare us but that may allow us to break the limits that hold us. Because just like the phoenix we must burn to emerge.

May we embrace the friendships we have built over the years with our classmates, teachers, sub-ordinate staff and even our parents. We should be grateful. Let us take moments to recall highlights such as the bushes of Ondiri or the flight of stairs we had to climb every night with Mr. Ongera. Let us remember the Nova Tatu finals in Term 3 form 2, the devastating clearance, club boom. Mixed Church, the first time we did full papers. The opening of the swimming pool, IG’s Concert, KTN’s kubash on live TV, World Cup and Afcon and The great Sagana.

We have shaped this school Class of 2019 and are leaving behind a remarkable legacy. 

We must now recognize that it is difficulty and failure that give us a proper perspective on success—and that in order to enjoy the fruits, we must Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish!

Long live the Pioneers! 

Congratulations Class of 2019.

Speech delivered by Ryan Napo (Former student at Nova Pioneer Boys’ Secondary ) during the graduation ceremony in August 2019.