BEST SCHOOLS IN LAGOS

As you are no doubt aware, Lagos is very much a land of the
haves and have-nots. The quality of everything available in Lagos closely
tracks the economic level of those making use of the services. Education is no
different. As a rule of thumb, the more expensive the school is, the more
likely it is to offer high quality education. There is no school listed in this
article with annual tuition fees less than N2m, so they are decidedly not
cheap. So as not to flog a dead horse, this article will not include figures,
but will focus on the specific merits offered by each school.

Corona School:

Greensprings:

Nestled in a plush campus along Harold Shodipo Way, Ikeja GRA, Grange School is
consistently at or close to the very summit of secondary school achievement
rankings in Nigeria. In 2006, Grange became the first school in West Africa to
achieve >90% A-C grades in the Cambridge IGCSE examination that it prepares
students for. Boasting a fanstastic range of facilities including a
mini-stadium, swimming pools and a massive gazebo, Grange boasts of fantastic
relationships with schools in the UK and around the world. It regularly enters
students for international contests in line with the school’s stated commitment
to ‘A Culture of Continuous Improvement’. Grange also has a nursery and primary
section preparing students for the British Keystage 1 and Keystage 2
assessments.

This institution is renowned for a lot more than just being
‘Davido’s school’. In addition to nurturing the musical talent of its budding
superstar with an excellent music lab and world class staff, BIS, as it is
commonly known, is widely recognised as being the school that popularised the
idea of running the UK high school syllabus in Nigeria, so as to ensure that
for those who can afford it, their kids would not be left behind in the global
knowledge race. From its sprawling campus along BIS Way in Oniru, Victoria
Island, it sparked off a cultural revolution in Nigerian education that has now
affected even schools with lesser financial heft. It was one of the first
schools in Nigeria whose boarding facilities took a strictly positive attitude
toward student welfare, and a complete zero-tolerance policy toward bullying
and victimisation. Coupled with a liberal attitude toward freedom of expression
and thought, the culture of the school ensures that anyone who comes out of its
doors is a cerebral, inquisitive, fully-formed individual, as against the
typically traumatised, fearful, textbook-regurgitating product of the average
Nigerian secondary school.

Recognised as the ‘original’ British boarding school in Nigeria,
Lekki British is sometimes unfairly portrayed as the little brother of its
noisy neighbour in Oniru. Nevertheless, it continues to maintain its high
academic standards alongside an array of impressive facilities and great
teaching staff on its 25-acre Lekki campus. It offers a full range of schooling
levels from pre-school through elementary school and high school.

Originally opened in 1981, AIS is a school operating from campuses
in Lekki and Victoria Island preparing students up to the American grade 12
level. It has a student strength of about 700, from which about 55
nationalities are represented. This makes it by far Nigeria’s most multi-ethnic
and multicultural school.

The only unisex school on the list, Vivian Fowler is a
female-only secondary school based in Oregun, Ikeja. It prides itself on giving
girls a unique platform to be whatever they want, free from judgements and
perceptions of what is very much a male-dominated society. It prepares students
for both the Nigerian WAEC examination and the Cambridge IGSCE exam, in
addition to the SAT and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) Test.

Starting off from its original locations in Sonibare Estate in Maryland, Ikeja,
Atlantic Hall now has a sprawling behemoth of a campus in
Poka, Epe. This is one of Nigeria’s most iconic schools, having produced a
roster of internationally recognised names in every field including sports,
music, literature and business. Some well-known names that attended Atlantic
Hall include SeyeOgunlewe, 100m Olympian and current fastest man in Nigeria,
ChibunduOnuzo, published author and UK Guardian contributor, NaetoChikwe, aka
Naeto C, pioneering rapper and Nigerian music icon, and even yours truly David
Hundeyin, Commonwealth Prize-shortlisted author and TV show writer. Atlantic
Hall used to offer an exclusively Nigerian syllabus but these days it prepares
students for both the standard WAEC exams and Cambridge GCSE O’ and A’ Levels.

Unlike the other institutions listed so far, Oxbridge College is
not a conventional secondary school. It is a Sixth Form College, specializing
in preparing students for Cambridge GCSE O’ and A’ Level examinations. It also
offers a very popular NCUK foundation programme, which gives prospective UK
university students a bridging route from WAEC certificate exams into the
British university system. What sets Oxbridge apart is its singular focus on
academic performance, operating in the space between secondary school and
university. Oxbridge offers A’ Level students the option to carry out a 2-year
programme as is obtainable in the UK, or an abridged 1-year programme, which is
useful for high performers looking to get ahead, or students who have lost a
year or two. It also offers a career guidance service and a foreign university
matching and processing service to help students complete their natural
progression from top-level sixth form education to world class tertiary
institutions. Oxbridge is located at 49, SoboArobiodu Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.

The second sixth form college on this list, Bridge House College has
incorporated the experience of a conventional secondary school into the reality
of a high performance university preparatory school. Boasting a serene location
in Osborne Foreshore II, Bridge House is renowned for fostering a community
spirit among students while pushing them for maximum academic achievement.
Taking the collaboration model further than Oxbridge, Bridge House has a
special relationship with the University of Hull and Brooke House College in
the UK, both of which carry out regular inspections and advisory visits.