Hilltop posts record enrollment

SPARTA — Hilltop Country Day School kicked-off the 2016-17 school year on Wednesday, Sept. 7, with a record enrollment increase and a full slate of new programs.
While other local schools are cutting programming and experiencing overcrowding, Hilltop is flourishing while maintaining the school’s signature small class sizes and nurturing environment.
“Hilltop has been committed to providing an excellent private school education to northern New Jersey families for close to 50 years and what has remained true all those years is a commitment to each child who attends,” said head of school Peter Gordon. “As a Future Ready school we also have a commitment to provide a top notch education and school experience, small class size, and personalized attention.”
Sussex County’s only independent day school opened its doors for its 49th school year with 112 students, a 6.25 percent enrollment increase from the prior year. Forty-two of those students are new to the school, the largest class of new students in the school’s history. The school maintains a 10:1 student to teacher ratio despite the growth.
In addition to the record growth, Hilltop is boasting new programs including expanded athletic offerings including cross country, competitive golf and soccer on top of existing karate, ski club, and tennis programs. Hilltop initiated phase one of a two phase roll out to becoming a fully operational mobile learning environment by outfitting all of its faculty and staff with Chromebooks. All elementary school students will have Chromebooks next school year and all middle school students will be able to bring their own devices to school.
Hilltop also begins the year with enhancements to the school’s design laboratories including an increase in the number of Makerbot 3D printers and a number of other facilities upgrades.
In addition to several signature programs such as the PEAKS Buddies program, Learning Center and middle school advisor program, Variable Tuition continues to make Hilltop more affordable and accessible to area families.
Hilltop closed the 2015-16 school year with outstanding high school placement of its graduating eighth graders. Members of the class of 2016 were accepted into top-rated independent day and boarding schools in the region including Morristown Beard, Blair Academy, Gill St. Bernards, Purnell, Delbarton and Kent Place.
“This is an amazing time in Hilltop’s history,” Gordon said. “Not only are we experiencing a renewed commitment to our mission to educate Future Ready students, but we are also on the precipice of some of the most cutting-edge trends and advancements in elementary and middle school education.