applications for the upcoming school year.

But none of the heads of the schools, contacted by The Royal Gazette , would attribute the number of enrolment applications to looming cuts in public schools.

The Education Ministry has come under pressure to chop $2.2 million from its $46-million budget.

The cuts, to be finalised, include 25 teaching jobs, summer school, 50 percent of the textbook budget, teachers' pay for extracurricular activities and overseas conferences, and the budget for special purchases like trophies at maintained schools.

Bermuda High School for Girls principal Mr. Jack Wright said: "We certainly have a good increase for Primary One this year. It's stronger than last year.

We're going from a two-form (entry) to three-form''.

Mr. Wright said the school has also seen a strong amount of applications for Primary Seven to secondary level.

"But I don't know to what it can be attributed,'' he said.

Headmistress at Warwick Academy's primary school, Ms Jane Dyer, said because the school was new she could not yet compare enrolment application figures.

But she said the school already had 73 applicants for 25 places this September.

The school was just in the process of choosing applicants, she added. But Ms Dyer refused to comment on the reason for the number of applicants.

Principal at Montessori Academy in Warwick, Mr. Gilbert Giuliani, said: "We have 42 people on the waiting list and we have not yet advertised for enrolment''.

"But,'' he quickly added, "I don't think the situation with public schools is causing this.'' "In Bermuda, if people apply to one private school, they apply to all of them,'' Mr. Giuliani said.

"We always get more people applying, than we have space for. We don't regard a waiting list as very significant.'' He said one can only go by actual enrolment figures.

"Right now it looks very good,'' he said. "But we don't have much of a track record.'' Mr. Giuliani said many of the applications are from parents of three to four-year-olds, "who would not be looking at public schools anyway''.

The school, which opened its doors at Tivoli last year, has 100 students enrolled. It can take up to 110.

Saltus Grammar headmaster Mr. Keith McPhee said applications for September's enrolment "looks very healthy indeed''.

But he also added that this was the norm for the school which became co-ed at all levels in September, 1991.

About 60 people have applied for a space in the school's senior secondary level. Last year there were 55 applicants, and the year before the number was 70.

Mr. McPhee said Saltus was looking at a maximum of 75 students in its first-year level alone.

He attributed the interest to the school's "academic excellence''.