With each passing year, it becomes even more clear: Belmont Day School is a place where prospective families feel energized and inspired by our mission and faculty, and by how an intentional, welcoming community intersects with a strong academic program to create meaningful experiences for our students.

As we close out another remarkable admissions season, I’m thrilled to share that prospective families are very eager to join our community of learners and leaders. For the 2025-26 school year, our admissions team again saw high application numbers–up 11% from last year! This continues a multi-year trend of increasing interest in BDS—applications are up an astonishing 44% from before the pandemic. Our key entry point grades—pre-kindergarten and sixth grade—continue to see especially strong momentum, and we are excited to welcome 67 outstanding new students to BDS this fall.

We were particularly pleased this year to see strong interest and yield at our pre-kindergarten entry point, given the potential impact the rollout of universal pre-k in Cambridge would have on our numbers. Due to our wonderful pre-k teaching team dramatically increasing engagement through additional events and outreach to prospective families, we were able to maintain our strong application numbers and yield rate of nearly 80% from previous years.

But as always, the numbers only tell part of the story.

What truly set this season apart was the consistent, heartfelt enthusiasm expressed by prospective families as they engaged with our community. We heard time and again that Belmont Day “feels different”—that our people, our values, and our joyful, purposeful learning environment make a powerful and lasting impression. That impression is only possible because of all the people who played such integral roles in the admissions process this year.

Our faculty once again brought immense dedication and creativity to every phase of the process—from planning thoughtful prospective student visits and assessments to designing engaging yield events to warmly welcoming tour groups mid-lesson. Their ability to both teach and host with grace, curiosity, and good humor continues to set Belmont Day apart.

This year, our dedicated team of parent volunteer tour guides, led by the indomitable Judy Bright, our admissions and outreach program manager, and our committed faculty hosted 267 campus tours (a 25% increase over last year alone!), welcomed more than 400 visitors to our open house, and supported over 240 student assessment visits—a true team effort. Our parent volunteers were tireless and generous with their time—not only touring families, but also connecting with prospective families and sharing their authentic perspectives, serving as buddy families, and helping build meaningful connections across towns and backgrounds. It is no exaggeration to say that these efforts have a direct and lasting impact on every family’s decision to join BDS.

Our student ambassadors also played a standout role this season. Whether offering a confident answer on a student panel, connecting with a nervous prospective kindergartner during a visit day, or sharing their own stories (sometimes in another language!) with empathy and humor, they once again reminded us just how articulate, thoughtful, and kind our students are. Watching our seventh and eighth graders grow into these leadership roles remains one of the most gratifying parts of the admissions cycle.

This fall, we will welcome new students from 14 different towns and cities, ranging from those closer to campus—such as Arlington, Belmont, and Cambridge—to those further afield, including Bolton, Chestnut Hill, Medford, and Sudbury. As always, our incoming families represent a wide range of experiences, languages, and cultures—including households where Gujarati, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Turkish, and Brazilian Portuguese are spoken. Nearly 50% of our incoming families identify as families of color, as BDS continues its commitment to building a diverse, inclusive, and representative school community.

As we look ahead to September, please join me in offering a warm hello to our newest families as you see them at events, on the sidelines, or simply in the car line. Thank you for being such an integral part of the admissions process. Thank you also to our faculty for your dedication throughout this admissions season—you truly make Belmont Day the exceptional place that it is. I’m deeply grateful for all of these many partnerships, and I can’t wait for you to meet the newest members of the Belmont Day family this fall.