Dear Alumni,

Due to the uncertainty of the evolving COVID-19 virus, I know we all feel a bit uneasy. Although there is no script for this, I am reminded when reading the history of Kingswood School and Oxford School of how the Kingswood students practiced drills during World War II and the Oxford students raised money for ambulances and the armed forces. In challenging and unprecedented times like these, we gathered together as a community and through our solidarity and common purpose, we rose to the challenge.

I want to keep you apprised of the work Kingswood Oxford is doing currently to ensure the safety of our own community and the wider community as we navigate this situation. Currently, KO is on spring break, and we made the decision to cancel the Team Tobati trip to Paraguay, the Model U.N. trip to Rome, and the boys’ lacrosse and baseball preseason trips to Florida that occur during this time. Although students were due back from the break on March 23, we will conduct online learning beginning on March 24 instead. As of now, we announced that school will reopen on April 6, however, we will follow the recommendations and guidelines from our local health department, the state of Connecticut Department of Health and the Central Disease Control (CDC) to determine whether or not that date is feasible.

We had planned several regional alumni events over the next few weeks that will, unfortunately, need to be rescheduled to the fall. But, rest assured, we will keep in touch by phone, emails and social media. 

In his infinite and reassuring wisdom Mr. Rogers said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” We are them. I am grateful to be part of a community whose core value is “care beyond self.” In these trying times, this is the foundation upon which we all rest. See how you can help an elderly neighbor while practicing social distancing. Perhaps you could food shop for them or drop off donations at a local food bank. Those are the things we can control to find our calm.

We will continue to update our alumni and are committed to keeping everyone in our community informed of important changes, to safeguarding your well-being and safety, and to making decisions based on the latest public health guidelines and emerging information.  If you’d like more information about our communication regarding the coronavirus, here is a link to our webpage .

Together, with courage and compassion, we will prevail.

All my best,
Tom Dillow
Head of School