On a Friday, Jan. 28, during PLB, Upper School students attended an assembly in Roberts Theater. At the time, no one outside of the Student Government Association (SGA) knew what the assembly was going to be about, and students were quite confused since assemblies are usually held on Tuesdays, not Fridays. However, students soon found out that the assembly’s purpose was to introduce a new house system to KO.
The history of the house system dates back to the Kingswood School in Bath, England. When Kingswood’s founder George Nicholson attended the Bath campus, the school was divided into the two houses of York and Lancaster, named after the two rival families that fought for control over the throne during the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century. Nicholson decided to use those names for his new school, where he divided the student body evenly into York and Lancaster houses.
These houses engaged in fierce competition against each other in both academics and athletics. The house system lasted from the school’s founding in 1916 until 1928 when it fell out of use as extracurricular activities became more prevalent. The house system briefly reappeared at KO during the 2013-2014 school year when SGA reinstated it per popular opinion, allowing the first ever field day in the Upper School to take place.
The two original houses of York and Lancaster are still incorporated in this year’s house system, but since the student body is much larger than it was back in the early 1900s, there are two additional houses. SGA came up with the names Windsor and Nottingham for the new houses.
“In trying to keep up with our British history, we landed on Windsor, as it is the name of the current ruling house of England,” senior speaker David Shi said. “We also wanted to have something unique to KO that still sort of followed the pattern, so we came up with Nottingham which also still sounds English and traditional in a way.”
After the assembly was dismissed, students filed to various locations around campus with other students in their form. Once each form was gathered, SGA members from each form called up advisee groups one by one, and each student selected a piece of paper out of a hat with a house on it. Students were instructed to tell the audience what house they picked while a member of SGA recorded it on a spreadsheet.
“I’m part of Lancaster, and I think it’s cool that I got to be a part of one of the houses that was originally at the Kingswood School,” freshman Els Morris said regarding her house placement.
When proposing the house system to Head of School Tom Dillow, SGA highlighted that implementing a house system would strengthen KO’s connection to its history as well as to its sister school in England. SGA also aims to foster interactions between people who would not normally interact and to bolster school spirit in addition to promoting healthy and fun competition. “I think it is good for school spirit and building community amongst all four grades,” junior Tess Chapman said in response to the new house system. “I’m excited to see where this program goes.”
