BY PETER KARANJA
Loreto High School is a girls only institution located in Limuru highlands, Karambaini, in Kiambu County.
The school which is located 28 kilometers from Nairobi city was founded on December 4, 1936, as a Primary School – on which date it opened its doors to its first student.
The school was founded by Sisters of Loreto – a group of deeply religious women who arrived in Kenya from Ireland in 1921. These were Catholic Missionaries.
The sisters – armed with the bible and a desire to transform the misty village in LIMURU – set up the school to enhance educational opportunities for the girls who at the time were confined to the kitchen.
The school was pioneered by sisters S.M. Dolores Stafford, S.M. Theresa Joseph O’Sullivan and S.M. Veronica Bradley – who believed that through education “Women in time to come would do much”.
The school began with seven girls – but all of them disappeared overnight due to the severe cold and mist that has a permanent residence in LIMURU even today.
The girls returned – after much convincing and in 1938 four girls sat for the Primary Examination. It was not until 1947 that the first secondary class began.
The first two students, Mary Sekunda Wanjiru, and Merioth Wairimu, passed the Senior Cambridge Certificate Examination.
The school is currently one of the top in the country in academics as well as in the extra-curricular activities such as netball and hockey.
In 1958, Loreto became a National School, a status it still holds today. In 1970, it began an “A level” art class, and in 1981 the school was given an “A level” science stream, with a science laboratory. Since then, there has been a rapid expansion of the existing facilities.
Some of the notable alumni who sung crammed the Loreto Spirit, “In the Cross, while I breathe, I trust.” – include Rev Natasha, Former MACHAKOS First Lilian Nganga and the late Nobel Lauret winner and environmentalist Prof Wangari Mathai