Kingswood Oxford’s new assembly format gives the community a new taste of what community gatherings should look like.
In previous years, assemblies would go as follows: opening remarks from the Speaker, short announcements from students and teachers, and final closing remarks. Beginning with the 2023-24 school year, the administration, with student input, decided to switch things up. The goal was to have a more productive assembly while still allowing impactful, personal announcements to happen. Now, assembly consists of two to three important announcements along with a few remarks from senior Speaker and Head Prefect Nicolas Tippner.
When students found out about the format change, many wondered why it was happening. “Last year, people got bored,” Nicolas said. “We wanted to change up how we did assemblies. We wanted to use this time with the entire community to showcase what was going on in our community and to share the accomplishments of our community and share any concerns.” Nicolas hopes that the new format will keep students engaged and energized during the entirety of the assembly time.
Although Head of the Upper School Lisa Loeb wasn’t at the school when the idea came about, she still felt like she understood what the intention was behind this decision. “They wanted more student performances, student-driven moments rather than just having a bunch of people standing up and making announcements,” she said. “They wanted to make it more about the students than just what is happening at KO.” Mrs. Loeb believes that the idea for the new assembly format was done with students’ benefits in mind and the growth of the community as a whole.
Both Mrs. Loeb and Nicolas believe that the Kingswood Oxford community needs to give this new format a chance, and once we get used to it, it will actually be very beneficial. “We’ll see that it allows assemblies to be more about experiences that we are having together,” Mrs. Loeb said. The assembly format will give Kingswood Oxford a chance to build a sense of community and unity. Nicolas reiterated this sentiment, and although we have only had a few assemblies so far, the speeches that we have heard have been very impactful.
Ms. Loeb and Nicolas are very excited for what’s to come with the new assembly format and the overall future of this school year. They hope that students and faculty give feedback on how they feel about the new assembly format once we’ve had a handful of assemblies under our belt.
