Enrolment at four of the Island's six private schools has neared full capacity.

And at least one school has received applications for the year 2000.

Montessori Academy head Gordon Maas yesterday told The Royal Gazette : "We are totally full. We are opening with 125 children between the ages of three and 12 years.

Mr. Maas was one of four head teachers -- speaking during the first day of school for several private schools -- who said they believed that parents saw their schools as viable alternatives to public education which is undergoing major reform.

"The waiting list remains strong,'' Mr. Maas said. "We have some applications for the year 2000 for children who have not yet been born. So things are looking good for this year and the next school year.

"Montessori education and the value of it is really getting around. We have viable alternatives for educating.'' Mr. Maas said the school had not yet made a decision about expansion, but its board of governors and development committee were working on it.

Saltus principal Trevor Rowell, who reported that enrolment had climbed from some 860 students to 940 this year, said the school had introduced new arrangements in the scheduling of classes to accommodate the increase.

He attributed the overall increase to a "very good curriculum'' which he said had been rewritten with input from some North American universities.

But while student numbers had risen at the junior, preparatory, and graduate levels, Mr. Rowell said classes in the senior school were smaller.

"We have created new rooms and several additional teachers have joined the staff,'' he explained. "Tutor groups in senior one and five are now 20 students, down from 15.'' Saltus has also opened a new building for its graduate students.

The Reiss Building, which was formerly a library, will be used by students for study, computer-based activity, and research.

Mr. Rowell said he would also like to see the school expand its buildings.

He noted that the school had a waiting list of some 240 people for first-year elementary spaces and ten to 60 people for spaces in other classes.

"I'm actively considering ways of accommodating students on the waiting list,'' he said.

Bermuda Institute principal Sheila Holder said she too would like to see her school expand its Middle Road, Southampton facilities.

With enrolment up from 480 to 500 this year, she said: "We're at capacity, even though there are a couple of classes with one or two spaces. "We've been getting over the last three years more students in lower grades. Now that those students are moving into the older grades, there are less and less spaces at the senior level.'' The two-form entry school is expected to break ground for a new gymnasium and science building before the end of the year.

But Mrs. Holder admitted that the school could also use more classrooms.

"Right now we still have 15 people on the waiting list for the entry level, that is age five,'' she said.

"We are also starting to see a waiting list at the last year of primary school and at the high school.'' Students who were not successful in getting in the school this year will remain on the school's waiting list, Mrs. Holder said. But their parents have been advised to make alternate arrangements at other schools.

"If space becomes available, we choose students who are Adventists or are the children of alumni first,'' she explained.

Sister Judith Rollo of Mount St. Agnes Academy, where classes will resume on Thursday for students, said they also had a waiting list for every grade except for grades 11 and 12.

She said she believed the school's enrolment had increased to 550 because an extra grade seven class had been added.

And with applications flowing in for spaces in the school's first and sixth grades -- the latter is equivalent to Primary Seven in public schools -- she noted that the waiting list for entry into the first year was long enough to fill another class.

"Next year, with the introduction of middle schools, we expect to see an even greater demand for grade six,'' Sister Judith said.

Private schools bursting at the seams Discussions were ongoing as to whether the school should expand.

"Right now we are overflowing in the plant we're in,'' she admitted. "But we have not made a decision (about expanding). We have to weigh the pros and cons.'' However, she added that if the school was going to expand, a decision would have to be made by March.

While the decision will be up to herself and the school's board of governors, Sister Judith said input will be sought from the faculty.

She explained that grades 11 and 12 were not so full because some students, for one reason or the other opted to leave school and enter the work force or finish their education elsewhere.

Neither Bermuda High School for Girls principal Eleanor Kingsbury nor Warwick Academy head Bernard Beacroft could be reached for comment yesterday.

But BHS this summer began building four new classrooms in order to keep its 20-to-one student-teacher ratio because principal Eleanor Kingsbury said the school was "tight for space'', but wanted to maintain its class size.

And last month, Mr. Beacroft said all 275 spaces at Warwick's primary level were filled and some 350 of the 375 spaces at the senior level had been taken.