The Pembroke Hill School | |
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Location | |
Kansas City, Missouri United States |
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Information | |
Type | Private |
Motto | Freedom with Responsibility |
Religious affiliation(s) | Nonsectarian |
Established | 1910 – Pembroke-Country Day (boys), 1913 – Sunset Hill (girls), 1984 – Pembroke Hill (coed) |
Headmaster | Dr. Steve Bellis |
Faculty | 110 |
Enrollment | 1,200 |
Average class size | 105 students (upper school) |
Student to teacher ratio | 11:1 |
Campus | Urban, two campuses |
Color(s) | Red & Blue |
Athletics | 22 varsity, 15 junior varsity, numerous club |
Athletics conference | Missouri State High School Activities Association |
Mascot | Raider (Viking) |
Average SAT scores (2015) | Math: 664; Verbal/Critical reading: 658; Writing: 666 |
Average ACT scores (2015) | 30 |
Website | www.pembrokehill.org |
The Pembroke Hill School (usually referred to as Pembroke Hill) is a nonsectarian, coeducational, private preparatory school for about 1,200 students in early years (age 2 years) through 12th grade, separated into four sections: early years-prekindergarten (early childhood school), kindergarten-5th grade (lower school), 6th-8th grade (middle school), and 9th-12th grade (upper school). It is located on two campuses in the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri, near the Country Club Plaza.
Vassie James Ward Hill, a prominent Kansas Citian and Vassar College graduate born in 1875, gained a considerable fortune upon the death of her first husband, Hugh Ward, a son of pioneer Seth E. Ward. She then married Albert Ross Hill, formerly president of the University of Missouri.
At the time, Kansas Citians of means commonly sent their children to boarding schools on the east coast. Hill did not want to send her daughter and three sons "back east." She believed they should be able to have an equal education in Kansas City. This led her to research the workings of college preparatory schools, especially the progressive education of the Country Day School movement.
In 1910, using funds from twelve Kansas City businessmen, Hill founded the Country Day School for boys, which accepted both day students and boarders. (Boarding ceased in the 1950s.) The initial enrollment was 20 students but grew to 52 within three years. The first "country day school" in the Midwest, it sat on what is today Pembroke Hill's Ward Parkway Campus, to the west of the Country Club Plaza at the intersection of State Line Road.