Even brothers and sisters of Saltus students are being denied places at the school because of a 1998 deal between Saltus and several international insurance companies trading cash for school spaces, several Saltus parents claim.

Saltus Grammar School however, stands firm by the notion that accepting a reported $2.4 million from the insurance companies in return for spaces benefited both those companies and other students attempting to get into Saltus. At first glance, entrance requirements for Saltus appear to be the same as the other private schools on the Island such as BHS, Warwick Academy, Mount Saint Agnes (MSA) and Bermuda Institute (BI).

When children are born, parents apply to the school and are put on an admissions list. Once the children are old enough to attend school, Saltus invites all people on that list to meet with Cavendish staff and have an assessment done on the children.

Places are then offered to 40 boys and 40 girls based on individual merit. In fact, both this year's Primary One and the incoming Primary One have an equal make-up of boys and girls: the first time that has occurred since Saltus opened its doors to girls 12 years ago.

Once those 80 spaces are filled, the rest are put on a waiting list.

“If you are an alumnus of the staff, have a sibling attending Saltus, or you are the child of a member of staff, you are given some priority,” said headmaster Nigel Kermode. Beyond that, however, he said, entrance is based strictly on the date of application - first come first served.

But one mother whose child has been on the Saltus waiting list for over a year and a half - even though the child already has a sibling in the school.

And the mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said when she asked why her child was not being admitted even though he satisfied all the entrance requirements, she was told the spot had been given to “one of the companies which has been a generous benefactor of the school”.

“That upset me,” she said.

The Royal Gazette reported in 1998 that Saltus struck a deal with several international insurance companies, said then to include Renaissance Re, ACE, XL, CAT Ltd., and Terra Nova.

This week Mr. Kermode said he was reluctant to say exactly what companies were involved, but added: “We had a relationship of some years standing (with a group of international companies) who underwrote the cost of building improvements to the school.”

That cost was reported in 1998 to be $2.4 million.

The building improvements allowed the school's capacity to increase from 75 students per year to 90, a 15-student increase.

As a result, the school was reorganised from three classes of 25 students per year to four classes of roughly 20 each, or 80 students per year, an increase of five students.

With the school's capacity at 90 students per year, that leaves roughly ten spaces every year left free. So what happens to those spaces?

“We do hold some spaces for such companies (who helped with building improvements),” said Mr. Kermode. However, he added: “But that doesn't actually disadvantage anyone because of the increase in spaces,” meaning the ability of the school to absorb five extra students who are not in any way connected to the insurance companies.

According to Saltus parents, however, it does.

“I'm Bermudian, I pay my money up front, in advance,” said the mother who spoke with The Royal Gazette. “My money's as good as any ACE student's.

“They're making these parents go nuts... I just think the whole system's wrong. This is a common thing.

“That's why people don't say too much - what are you going to do in Bermuda, we're tied.”

Still preferring private schools to the public system, she said, parents do not want to “create waves”, preferring to cling to the hope their child might be allowed in to the private school system sometime.

In reality, said Mr. Kermode, the “group of companies we style as our support group” never actually take all ten spaces, leaving even more room for other students. Only one year is currently running at its full 90-student capacity with all ten of the spaces reserved for insurance companies actually taken by those companies, he added. That is this year's J6 year.

“A school's population is a very flexible thing,” he said.

Of the other private schools with both primary and secondary levels (BHS, Warwick Academy, MSA and BI), only MSA and BI claimed to be affiliated with and give preference to students connected to another institution.

In BI's case, students who belong to the Seventh Day Adventist Church are given preference, and at MSA, it is to students who go to any church, not necessarily a Catholic one.