King's College was an independent school for boys founded in 1923 as a joint venture between the Congregational Church and the Baptist Union in South Australia.

[13] In 2006, Pembroke became the first school in South Australia to be granted an exemption from anti-discrimination laws in order to accept a greater number of girls than boys.

Pembroke is divided into three "sub-schools": In the junior school, students are allocated into one of four "houses", Torrens (Blue), Yorke (Yellow), Spencer (Green) and Flinders (Red), which are used for sporting events.

The Pembroke School curriculum follows a framework covering the eight nationally recognised key learning areas: English, mathematics, science, humanities, languages, arts, health and physical education and technology.

Within each of Pembroke's sub-schools there exists a branch of the "Hearing Unit" which offers specialist assistance and support for hearing-impaired students.

In the Middle School, all students study English, Maths, Science and Physical Education as part of the core curriculum.

Geography, World History, Commerce, Film and Sports Exercise Science become additional elective subjects in Year 10.

The VET component allows students to gain double credit for work completed at school and may be applied towards Technical and Further Education(TAFE) certificates.

The base of the program in the middle school is "Old Watulunga", a 17 hectares (42 acres) property on the Finniss River, 75 kilometres (47 mi) south of Adelaide.

Through all these experiences, students are exposed to a number of skills such as cooking on trangias, camping in tents and bush safety.

Sports on offer include athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, cross country running, Australian rules football, hockey, Australian HPV Super Series, netball, orienteering, rowing, Rugby Union, soccer, softball, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, touch football, triathlon, volleyball and water polo.

[20] Since 1986, when then teacher Campbell Whalley began the program, Pembroke students have participated in teddy bear making classes.

The school community contributed recipes and purchased advertising space in the book in order to cover the cost of publishing its first edition.