How top national schools recorded impressive performance in 2025 KCSE exams

Top national schools posted impressive results in the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE with emerging challengers staking their claim academic powerhouses.

From dominant mean scores to record-breaking grade distributions, the country’s academic powerhouses

Provisional results compiled across the country place Moi High School Kabarak in Nakuru County as the top school with a mean score of 10.59.

Only a single student failed to attain the university entry grade of C, with 82 scoring A plains and another 150 scoring A-.

The top spots familiar giants locked in the relentless race for academic supremacy with Alliance High School emerging second with a mean of 10.47 followed by Maranda High School (10.20), Murang’a Boys High School (10.16), Alliance Girls High School (10.10) and Kapsabet Boys High School (10.00).

Other schools that occupied the top spots based on the provisional ranking are Maseno School, Asumbi Girls, Nairobi School, Starehe Boys Centre, Mang'u High School, Pangani Girls and Lenana High School.

Below is the provisional ranking revealing how long-standing giants defended their reputations as centres of academic excellence with surprise contenders rewriting the hierarchy in this year’s results.

• Moi High School Kabarak - 10.59

• Alliance High School -10.47

• Maranda High School - 10.20

• Murang’a Boys High School - 10.16

• Alliance Girls High School - 10.10

• Kapsabet Boys High School - 10.00

• Meru High School - 9.97

• Starehe Boys Centre - 9.97

• Kagumo High School - 9.90

• Mary Hill Girls High School - 9.90

• Mang’u High School - 9.84

• Maseno School - 9.80

• Kitui School - 9.71

• Pangani Girls High School - 9.71

• Asumbi Girls High School - 9.70

• St Francis Rang’ala Girls - 9.66

• St Brigid’s Girls Kiminini - 9.61

• Nanyuki High School - 9.60

• Nairobi School - 9.50

• Lenana School - 9.49

• Kanga Boys High School - 9.40

A total of 993,226 candidates sat for KCSE in 2025 with 270,715 attaining a mean graced of C+ and above and securing direct entry to university.

1,932 candidates attained an A plain, an increase from 1,693 candidates in 2024.

507,131 candidates scored C- and above while 634,082 attained a pass grade (D+ and above), representing 63.67%.