Form One Selection/Intake

Secondary schools are grouped into different clusters which include, national schools, extra-county schools, county and sub-county schools. Candidates with special needs have their list of special schools to choose from.

While doing form one selection, candidates are expected to select a total of 11 secondary schools. i.e four national schools, three extra-county schools, two county schools and two sub-county schools. Candidates with special needs can pick one more school from the list of special/integrated institutions.

However there are some National schools that give priority to children from needy backgrounds such as Starehe Boys Centre and School, Starehe Girls Centre and School, Utumishi Academy, Moi Forces Academy (Nairobi) and Moi Forces Academy (Lanet).

Extra-County schools are boarding institutions that admit 60% of their candidates from the host county, while County schools select all their candidates from the host county.

Sub-county schools admit day scholars and admission is done only for students from the host sub-county.

How to Confirm Form One Selection via SMS

One can check the secondary school they have been selected to join by sending an SMS with the candidate’s Index Number to 22263 from any network. Cost of the SMS is Ksh. 25.

Admission Letters

Form one admission letters are posted on the Ministry of Education website and one can download by following the procedure below.

-Visit the Ministry of Education Website: https://www.education.go.ke/
-Select the county and sub-county where the candidate sat for the KCPE Exam.
-Enter your KCPE index number
-Click on submit
-Click on the admission letter at the bottom of the page to download and print

Education System in Kenya

Since 1985, Kenya has adopted the 8-4-4 system of education, which included 8 years of primary education, 4 years of secondary education and 4 years of University education. At the end of the primary education, candidates sit for ‘Kenya Certificate of Primary Education’ while at the end of the secondary education, candidates sit for ‘Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education’.

(CBC) Competency Based Curriculum (2-6-3-3)

In the year 2017, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) introduced a new system of education referred to as Competency Based curriculum (CBC) to replace the 8-4-4 system, a system that is slowly being implemented. The CBC has been organized in three levels: Early years education, middle school education, and senior school.

Learners in the new education system(CBC) will take 2 years in Pre-primary, 6 years in primary (Grade 1-6), 3 years in junior secondary (Grade 7,8,9) 3 years in senior secondary (grade 10,11,12) and 3 years in university.

CBC emphasizes on 7 major competencies which include: communication and collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving, creativity and imagination, citizenship, digital literacy, learning to learn and self-efficacy.

In the CBC system of education, Learners are assessed based on Meeting Expectations (ME), Approaching Expectations (AE) and Below Expectations (BE).

The 8-4-4 system was more teacher-centered while the CBC system is more learner centered.