Boarding

Boarding at Mount Kenya Academy comprises the larger part of the School community. As such it shares the principles, aims and practices of the whole school, but also defines others for itself.  It is our aim that the boarders form a co-operative, tolerant and purposeful community in which every member can feel comfortable and accepted, and to which all are encouraged to contribute. The policies and practices which follow are designed to achieve this aim.  We recognize that boarding is a very different type of life to that experienced by living at home; that both have attractions and detraction; that both offer differing opportunities but also require concessions.

We recognize that every pupil will respond distinctively to the experience and hope that we as a School will be able to cater individually for each pupil’s needs. We also encourage each pupil to appreciate their corporate responsibility to the welfare of the House as a whole, and that it is in the balance between their rights and responsibilities that all our interests will be best served.   However daunting they may at first appear, most of the systems will become very familiar to boarders surprisingly quickly. There will be urgent issues at the beginning such as uniform, timetable, layout of the school and the daily routine, which will be covered in induction sessions in the first few days.

Although boarding is second nature to those of us who have lived and worked with it for years, it can present emotional difficulties for many new pupils and their families, especially in the first few weeks and months.