Every day at Pembroke is different and a glance at our termly calendar will quickly illustrate this. Barely a day goes by without some sort of exciting event to engage and challenge the children, be it a scheduled match or performance, an educational trip or visiting speaker, swimming gala or special dinner. Below is an outline of a typical school day, although timings vary a little for different age groups.
“Children work and play hard at Pembroke House; they have fun and make friends for life.”
Early birds will have an early rise and head off for music practice, swim squad training or to exercise their ponies, before breakfast.
Everyone else will wake up a little later, get dressed and head to the dining room at 07.00am for a hearty breakfast, which includes fresh fruit, eggs from our very own Pembroke chickens and warm bread, straight from the oven.
Inspections in the boarding houses help the children to keep their areas neat and their belongings organised. There is great rivalry over who has kept their dorm the tidiest and the winning dorms are rewarded with a delicious 'Best Dorm' dinner at the end of each term.
Depending on what day it is, children might head to chapel for assembly, have a house meeting or sit down with their tutor to reflect on their week.
There are four 35 minute academic lessons before morning break.
A homemade snack is enjoyed at morning break and there is time to jump on skateboards, hang out on the climbing wall or just find a cosy cushion in the library to read.
Three more lessons before lunch, might inculde developing performance skills in the theatre, getting creative in the art room or learning new vocabulary in French.
Children and staff eat lunch together in the dining room. Good table manners, healthy eating and avoiding waste are all encouraged.
Following lunch, children return to dorms for a half hour rest period. They take this time to nap, read, quieten their minds and escape the heat of the day.
Re-energised, the children then engage in three more periods of formal learning.
Children enjoy a homemade snack, followed by some downtime to relax, chat and play with friends.
The later part of the afternoon is spent either practising sport, hosting visiting teams for competitive matches, taking part in an Extra or enjoying free time. This is when the children can be found throughout the campus, cycling, building dens, having a riding lesson or performing with the school's Martlet Band.
Everyone returns to dorms for showers and to change into tracksuits for the evening. Middles and Seniors get ready for Prep and our Junior boarders will head to the library to read aloud to our dedicated teaching assistants.
Children complete their homework independently; although they are encouraged to do this in silence, there are teachers on hand to help should they have questions or not fully understand any aspect of their work.
A delicious supper follows Prep, with all the children eating together in the dining hall.
Following supper, children can spend the evening chatting, reading, playing ping-pong, watching an educational programme or listening to ‘Pembroke Presents’, where children put on a lively presentation on a subject of their choosing.
Bed time and 'lights-out' vary depending on the age of the children. The younger ones always love having a story read to them and everyone enjoys a warm cup of cocoa.
Pembroke offers two boarding houses, Scholes for girls and Mackie for boys.
As a boarding school committed to educating the whole child, pastoral care is part of the fabric of our school.
We work hard to ensure everyone enjoys a varied, nutritionally balanced menu.
