At High Mowing School, a preschool-to-grade 12 day and boarding school, we opened the 2023-2024 school year in September by welcoming to our campus more than 350 students from 19 countries and 12 U.S. states and territories.

Together, our community experienced the everyday moments among our visible festivals and holidays that combine to create a school year. Our highlights include:

-- Expanded early childhood program options, with the addition of a third kindergarten class.

-- Welcoming thousands of guests to our campuses with open doors for the annual Pine Hill Holiday Fair in December, the Hilltop Circus performed by middle school students in February and our annual welcoming of spring May Day festival in April.

-- Infrastructure improvements on both our campuses that include replacing the 35-year-old roof at the Pine Hill building, landscape improvement to help with proper drainage on the Pine Hill campus, adding two new generators for the high school, completing upgrades to kitchen equipment at the high school and adding a new vehicle to help with medical transports.

-- High school students were once again offered the option for a two-week, immersive learning block that took them to other parts of our country and world.

-- We welcomed 40 soccer players from 15 countries to our Black Rock Football Club residential academy at HMS — a program that was featured in Renewal magazine and has allowed several graduates to go on to play soccer professionally and at their chosen colleges.

-- Our 45 graduates of the Class of 2024 are well-poised for their varied next steps that include higher education (including at Emerson College, Rhode Island School of Design and Berklee College of Music), starting their own businesses, entering the workforce and taking gap years.

We enjoyed the bookend closing to the 2023-2024 school year with our annual Reunion Weekend at the end of June, in which we welcomed more than 200 alums from the classes of 1955 through 2023 and their families back to campus for a weekend.

The special focus of the weekend was to honor Isobel Dobson Karl and The Pottery, a studio she created 80 years ago. Family and alumni gave moving tributes, and her family beautifully created a special display of her pottery.

Alumni were invited to bring their student or later clay creations for display in The Pottery, and many wonderful pieces were shared.

All of this combined to create a school year that parents were happy with. As part of our end-of-year parent survey, we received the following feedback:

-- When asked if they are satisfied with their student’s growth this year, more than 85% answered four or five stars.

-- When asked if they believe HMS does a good job of preparing their student for the future, more than 83% answered four or five stars.

-- When asked if they are satisfied with their student’s academic progress for the year, more than 81% answered four or five stars.

Planning and work is now under way for the 2024-2025 school year, and we look forward to sharing these moments with the wider community as well!

Jessica Hipp is communications and marketing director at High Mowing School in Wilton.