A Welcome from the Headmistress
If you have opened this Pembroke House website you may just be idly exploring on the internet but the rather greater likelihood is that you are an old boy or girl, a current parent or a possible prospective parent. Why should you browse this website and find out more about this little rural school nestling in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa?
Pembroke House is a quite an extraordinary school. There are many reasons for this but I will highlight just a few.
One of the most remarkable facets about it is the pride and emotion that it evokes in anyone who has had anything to do with it. This applies to the old boys and girls who have so much to remember about their time at school, to their parents and grandparents and to all the staff and gaps who have worked at Pembroke over the last 85 years.
As a boarding school it has a ‘heart’ and the sense of camaraderie that one encounters at this school sets it apart from its IAPS contemporaries in this country. In today’s world boarding tends to be seen as something that comes about from necessity – location making day school impossible. However boarding and the character building it engenders is a ‘secret’ of which many modern parents remain blissfully ignorant. Boarding ‘works’ for so many families, in a much deeper and more fundamental way. Amongst the children it teaches respect and tolerance for each other, it promotes discipline and self discipline, it encourages kindness and sensitivity and above all boarding life is fair. Children cannot manipulate their loved ones and as such learn that right is right and wrong is wrong. Right is rewarded and integrity naturally grows. The family nature of the school means that children are given a considerable amount of trust and responsibility and this in turn encourages initiative. Children leave Pembroke full of self belief and a natural confidence about life.
For parents boarding allows working life to carry on without the conflict of trying to do homework, school runs and accommodate friends when one is very busy. However come the holidays time is always made to savour ones children. Work remains at the office, the computer remains closed and parents make the most of time they can spend with their children. Such an arrangement keeps stress and friction to a minimum and most families report that boarding brings an improvement in their family life.
The other outstanding aspect of Pembroke life upon which we should focus is the self belief that this small school generates. With lower numbers than many of our competitors each child is needed. If a child cannot catch they are taught to catch, those who find running difficult are taught to run. Those who find class-work difficult are helped to overcome their difficulties. The children perform because the school needs them. In turn they give their all and in so doing their confidence grows and suddenly they realise they can do it – self belief grows. The knock on effect is that in all areas of school life a child will now blossom taking his new found confidence to those areas he may well have found slightly beyond him before.
So please look at all the sections of this web site and should you like what you see we would relish the opportunity to meet you and show you around this wonderful and remarkable school.
Deborah Boyd-Moss
Headmistress
