Nairobi Jaffery Academy

A co-ed Cambridge-curriculum Islamic school in Lavington, established in 1998 and running from age 2 to 18 with around 600 students drawn from over 18 nationalities.

The Jaffery Academy is the Shia Muslim community's flagship school in Nairobi and is partly subsidised by the community, which keeps fees notably below the secular British internationals while delivering full Cambridge IGCSE and A Level pathways alongside Edexcel options. The school positions itself explicitly as an Islamic Cambridge school and integrates Islamic values into the day, which is the main draw for Muslim families and the main filter for non-Muslim ones.

Facilities are solid for the price, with a heated pool, sports grounds, qualified teaching staff and good security. Parent voice splits cleanly. Families who align with the ethos talk about a strong academic standard at reasonable fees. A consistent counter-thread complains about administrative practices, additional charges beyond the headline fees and uneven communication from management. Worth visiting and asking specifically about all-in costs for the year before deciding.

• The academy is one of the few faith-based Cambridge international schools in East Africa, with around six hundred students at the Lavington site, and is repeatedly cited by Khoja Shia Ithna Asheri families as part of the wider Jaffery community campus.
• Reviews on the directory pool are split. Positive parents flag reasonable fees relative to teaching standard, qualified staff and respect for non-Muslim families.
• Critical reviews on the same pool describe service and management as below what fees should buy, with one specific complaint about the school charging fees to release student records.
• Reddit traffic is mostly about the wider Jaffery sports compound rather than the academy itself; some users praise the walking and sports facilities as community-friendly.
• The pool is small and polarised; the gap between the most positive and most negative reviews is wider than the school's directory aggregate suggests.