Education and Development Minister Paula Cox is soon to put recommendations to Cabinet on how the imminent overcrowding at the two public secondary schools should be handled - but warned it could come with a significant price tag.

At a press conference yesterday, she said she had held talks with parent and teacher bodies at both Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy during the last week to outline her favoured option for dealing with the overcrowding in September.

Both secondary schools will have a greater number of students than previous years due to changes in the school structure, which introduces a fourth year class of students.

That means no students in senior three will graduate from the public system this year, but instead will stay on for an extra year. When the new Berkeley Institute site, which is currently under construction, opens next year, it will be able to handle the extra number of pupils.

Ms Cox refused to say what her recommendation was, but said she had given a "signal" of what it was to the schools.

But she said she believed the talks and process so far had been constructive and wide-reaching.

She said: "What I think has been useful and constructive about the process is that we started out from a position where there was a divergence. What we have seen is we have moved towards a position of convergence.

"I'm not saying that what the solution is is going to be universally endorsed, but I think it does reflect the various views that have been expressed. I think it's a reasonable compromise and a sensible way forward.

"However, I think it comes with a price tag - and a significant one."

Ms Cox has said earlier how she was eager to see students remain on their school sites for all lessons, rather than have to travel elsewhere. Options being considered were bringing in portable classrooms to be added to the sites, and the possibility of operating a shift system, where students and teachers were at school outside of the usual lesson times.

However, the latter option would mean - many logistics had to be resolved first, such as overtime for teachers, transport for both teachers and students, and child care issues for parents. This was touted as the most favoured option of the Minister.

Bermuda College, which will for the next two years will lose 70 percent of its usual intake of freshman due to the changes in the public system, had offered to take the overflow of Senior Four students into its relatively empty campus, with faculty teaching the senior four students their usual curriculum.