Bucking a national trend that has seen boarding school enrollments stagnate for the last five years, most independent schools in the Northwest Corner and neighboring Berkshire County are reporting increases in their student populations.

Many are planning — or have recently completed — ambitious fundraising efforts.

The area’s two largest schools, Kent School and The Hotchkiss School, both report modest increases in enrollment.

Hotchkiss

At Hotchkiss, 567 students (267 boys and 240 girls), along with 118 faculty, reported Sept. 9 for the first days of classes. The student body, which numbers about 10 more than last year, hails from 32 states and 18 countries, according to Communications Director Roberta Jenckes.

With an endowment of $317 million and facilities that are the envy of many colleges, Hotchkiss has long been considered a fund-raising powerhouse.

This fall, the old tennis courts are being rebuilt, new courts have been added at a different site, and the old courts on Route 41 are being replaced with a new dormitory. This month, the school will hold dedication ceremonies for its latest building project, the Esther Eastman Music Center.

Kent School

Kent School now has bragging rights to being the largest independent school in the Northwest Corner. Headmaster Richardson W. "Dick" Schell said his school opened the year with 570 students, up about 2 percent over 2004-05.

About a dozen years ago, the school consolidated its physical plant, moving the girls’ campus from Skiff Mountain down to the main campus off Route 341 near the Housatonic River. The school serves boys and girls in grades 9 to 12 and has 75 faculty.

At the end of June, Kent concluded The Campaign for the Permanent Kent, begun in 1998, mostly to raise new endowment funds for faculty support and student financial aid.

"The campaign achieved a combined total of current gifts, pledges, and deferred commitments of more than $80 million," said Schell, who at 24 years has the longest tenure of any private school head in the Northwest Corner.

Marvelwood

Just up the road at Kent School’s old Skiff Mountain campus sits The Marvelwood School, a smaller coed secondary school that moved there from a cramped facility in Cornwall. The school caters to college-bound students who haven’t had a history of success.

Marvelwood, which has sometimes struggled to fill the larger campus since moving there 10 years ago, reports enrollments are up to 148, or five more than last year.

Arriving in July, new Head of School Scott Pottbecker found himself in the latter stages of a $3.5-million capital campaign for a badly needed new athletic center. He listed fund-raising, admissions and marketing as immediate needs.

"The first priority is to complete the capital campaign and break ground for the new athletic center," said Pottbecker, former chief financial officer at The Forman School in Litchfield. "We will also focus on increasing enrollment and getting the word out about Marvelwood."

South Kent

At South Kent School, an all-boys’ school for grades 9 to 12, Headmaster Andy Vadnais reports enrollments have risen substantially, up to 142 from 130 in 2004-05.

"We’re pleased right now and off to a very good start," said Vadnais.

The school just opened Gilder Hall, a new 36-bed dormitory with two faculty apartments. The school’s board of trustees is now eyeing new academic and athletic facilities, Vadnais said.

All indications are that South Kent has rebounded from a failed attempt to secure a second campus that nearly bankrupted the school in the early 1990s.

Salisbury School

At Salisbury School, another all-boys secondary school, Admissions Director Peter Gilbert reports inquiries, campus visits and applications have steadily increased over the last four years. Enrollment for 2005-06 stands at 289, or 12 percent higher than five years ago. One reason is that a recently completed new dormitory allowed Salisbury to expand its boarding population, Gilbert said.

Salisbury recently completed a multi-million-dollar fund-raising campaign, "Forever Salisbury." The school is planning a campaign to build a new athletic center to be named after former Headmaster Richard T. Flood Jr. and his wife, Sally.

"As always, our focus is on the boys and their well-being and the education that they are here to receive," said an optimistic Headmaster Chisholm Chandler. "It promises to be a banner year at Salisbury."

Indian Mountain

Down the road from Hotchkiss, one exception to rising enrollments is at Lakeville’s Indian Mountain School, where the student body numbers 240, down from 260 last year.

Indian Mountain completed a merger with Town Hill School two years ago. The larger coed school now serves students in pre-kindergarten through grade nine. Sixty-one students board at the school in the upper grades.

Outgoing Headmaster C. Dary Dunham said the school is going through its 10-year reaccreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges — a time-consuming process.

"We anticipate that the result of the evaluation will be a number of commendations and some important recommendations for the future," Dunham said.

Berkshire School

At Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass., Director of Communications James Harris did not say whether the current enrollment of 372 is up or down, but noted that the coed preparatory school has "met its targets" this year and last.

Harris said major fund-raising initiatives are expected to coincide with Berkshire’s centennial celebration in 2007. The school has seen a flurry of building in the last several years, including new dormitories and athletic fields. The trustees are currently reviewing the school’s campus master plan, which is based on the its long-range plan, Harris added.

"I couldn’t be more optimistic about Berkshire, particularly because of expansion of our community service program, our conservation efforts and our new philanthropy society," said Head of School Michael J. Maher, now in his second year at Berkshire. "They’re all part of the school’s commitment to teach the importance of giving back."