About Us

Welcome to Pembroke House

Welcome to Pembroke House, where pupils are encouraged to discover their unique talents, fulfil their individual goals, and develop the skills, habits and values needed to thrive in their chosen senior schools, and throughout their adult lives.

At Pembroke House, we believe passionately that the best prep school education is one that allows children the space to be children. With a safe and secure playground of over 140 acres of forest, field and stream, we are uniquely placed to preserve the magic of childhood, while delivering an outstanding academic and co-curricular education.

We follow the British Curriculum, recognised for its quality, rigour and heritage by over 160 countries. Delivered with passion and creativity by talented and dedicated teachers drawn from the UK, as well as from closer to home, our academic programme enables every pupil, irrespective of ability, to reach their full potential.

We are very proud of the fact that all our leavers achieve places at their first-choice senior schools and 60% of these are top UK independent schools. Our alumnae don’t just pass the test, however. Every year, one third of pupils gain places at senior schools with a scholarship or award, many of them being selected for leadership roles later on.

High-calibre academic teaching is only half of what makes Pembroke children stand out from the crowd. All our staff devote just as much attention to the development of character, life skills and personal values.

Through our extensive co-curricular programme and pioneering Martlet Award, which celebrates the individual and applauds achievement in all areas of school life, we find talent and reward contribution wherever it occurs, nurturing self-belief.

Through our modern responsive boarding provision, supported by our friendly and caring school community, we develop resilience, tolerance and compassion for others. By embedding Adventure Learning in our core curriculum, we find opportunities every day, for every child to learn to be part of a team but also to step up and take the lead.

It is through this whole-child, whole-life approach that the famous ‘Pembroke Spirit’ is forged. This spirit is embodied by every member of our wonderful school community and especially by the children who leave us still children – but with a sense of what they can achieve, what they can aspire to and what difference they can make.

I look forward to welcoming you to our school and letting our wonderful children show you, in far fewer words, exactly what I mean.

Deborah Boyd-Moss
Headmistress

Ethos, Aims & Values

Our vision is to be the leading preparatory school in East Africa for the fulfilment of academic potential and personal development, creating a community of inspired learners, distinct in their self-belief, spirit of adventure, confident leadership and kindness to others.

Our Ethos
Put simply, at Pembroke House, catching a fish, supporting a friend or leading by example receives just as much applause as getting 100% in a maths test.

Our educational ethos is one that comprises the whole child, enabling every pupil to fulfil their academic potential while helping them find their niche through the discovery of hidden talents and the development of personal attributes, life skills and values. Consequently, our ethos, enshrined in the Martlet Award, is one that celebrates individual achievement outside as well as inside the classroom and encourages physical, as well as intellectual, adventure.

Our boarding ethos is one that is responsive to the individual’s needs, giving every child the chance to embrace boarding school life at their own pace and ultimately choose it with tremendous enthusiasm. We believe that the huge popularity of our ‘boarding by choice’ formula is down to our excellent pastoral care, the friendly, family-style atmosphere in our boarding houses and a community with care for others at its heart.

Our Aims
We strive to fulfil our vision by preserving our distinctive ethos and working every day to achieve the following aims:

• To help each child develop to the very best of his or her ability
• To give all children a thorough and holistic education thereby preparing them for entry to their chosen senior schools, as well as for later life
• To develop balanced and grounded children with curiosity, passion, integrity and good manners
• To help children develop respect and tolerance for all around them
• To produce children who work well as a team but also enjoy making decisions and are not afraid to take the lead
• To provide the highest possible standards of pastoral care

Our Values – the ingredients of the ‘Pembroke Spirit’.
Integral to our aims are our six school values. They underpin our strategic vision and lie at the heart of everything we do. They are the ingredients of the ‘Pembroke Spirit’.

Curiosity: Through inspiring, creative and dynamic teaching, children are encouraged to enquire, challenge and enjoy independent intellectual discovery. This value is embodied in our school emblem, the Martlet bird, symbolic of the ceaseless pursuit of knowledge.

Courage: Staying true to our school motto, children are given as many opportunities as possible through our broad co-curricular programme to experience leadership, developing the confidence and willingness to lead others.

Spirit of adventure: Benefiting from our extensive but safe rural campus, children are encouraged to indulge their natural love of adventure, try new activities and approach every challenge with an ‘I can’ attitude.

Compassion: Children are encouraged to use the experience of boarding life to learn tolerance, respect, empathy and compassion for others, and to become role models for younger pupils.

Resilience: With strong and supportive pastoral care, children learn how to cope when things go wrong, how to fail and how to benefit from it. They are supported to become adaptable, and flexible in response to change or difference.

Integrity: In a community that feels and functions like a large but close-knit family, children learn the value of strong moral principles including honesty, loyalty, responsibility, constancy, dignity and duty, qualities that will guide and enrich their adult lives.

Kenya Educational Trust Limited

Since 1959, Pembroke House has been owned by the Kenya Educational Trust Limited, a limited liability company that trades as Pembroke House School. In common with UK independent schools, Pembroke House School is a charitable trust with no shareholders.

All income received through fees is devoted entirely to the management and improvement of the school and cannot be used for any other purpose. The Directors of the Trust, who are all volunteers, make up the Pembroke House Council, responsible, along with the Head and the Chairman of the Pembroke Foundation, for the School’s operations.

Unlike many UK independent schools, however, Pembroke House was not founded with a large endowment fund, meaning that the School relies solely on income generated from fees and on donations and funds raised by the Pembroke House Foundation, for its management, maintenance and development and also for scholarships, bursaries and community outreach projects.

Pembroke House School Council
The Pembroke House School Council is responsible for the governance of the School and for ensuring it stays true to its founding principles and fulfils its strategic aims. Specifically, the Council is responsible for developing the School’s vision and strategy, overseeing its operations and financial performance, including making sure that its income is spent well and in accordance with the requirements of the Trust which owns it.

The Pembroke House School Council comprises the Chairman of Council, Richard Vigne, Headmistress Deborah Boyd-Moss, the Trustees of the Kenya Educational Trust, and the Chairman of the Pembroke House Foundation.

Pembroke House Foundation
The Foundation is a UK registered charity committed to ensuring Pembroke House School continues to thrive.