As of this week, that crisis has arrived.

The six schools have announced they are officially closed to new pupils. Twentyfive prospective students were turned down last week and 25 families are now scrambling to find places for their children elsewhere. Students will continue to be turned down because each school is at bursting point.

"We are unbelievably jaded by this, " said Gerry O'Donoghue, principal of Scoil Bhride, Athgarvan. "We have rung this bell before but no one took any heed. Now we are doing what is against our moral obligation as educators: refusing children an education because we don't have anywhere to put them."

The six schools formed a committee 15 months ago in an attempt to deal with the high number of parents looking to get their children into schools during the school term. Since the process started, 198 pupils have been given places.

But the flood of families into the area has not stopped and the committee has recently been dealing with up to 40 requests a month.

The Newbridge crisis is far from unique, says Independent TD Catherine Murphy. "Almost every town and village in Kildare has experienced this kind of problem. Until the government starts planning for schools before building houses, schools are going to continue to be at breaking-point."

In Kill, school principal Tom Cunnane was forced to put up a sign advising parents that the school is full. This year, 23 children didn't get places, while there is a waiting list of 104 for next year. Only 60 of these will get in.

In Naas, when a new 16-classroom school was opened last year to junior infants only, frustrated parents took a case under Section 29 of the Education Act. As a result, children who had moved to the area were allowed in, but no one else. It still operates at half-capacity.

Parents moving house are more concerned with the colour scheme of their new bathroom than making provision for their children's place in school, education minister Mary Hanafin said last week, while expressing surprise that the situation in Newbridge had got so bad. But parents can't attempt to get their children into a school until they are valid residents of the area. "Suggesting that parents only move house in August is nonsense, " said Catherine Murphy.

"The department tends to blame parents or local parishes for not providing places, when it is their responsibility."

The mood at a public meeting held in Newbridge last Thursday was glum.

"We shouldn't be here, " said Bryan O'Reilly, principal of Scoil Mhuire. "It's not our job to find places for all these children, or to build new schools. It's a bad use of resources."

Each principal is struggling with a school that is over the official capacity of 28 pupils to one teacher. Some have up to 34 students in a class. Two years ago, a new primary school was planned for Newbridge, but it hasn't been built yet. Even when it opens, it will only accommodate junior infants. "It's only going to be a prefab, " said Gerry King, principal of Scoil Mhuire Senior. "Temporary accommodation has a habit of becoming permanent and that's just not good enough."

It may have to be good enough for at least one of the schools, which will probably have to squeeze in another prefab to accommodate children, it was suggested at the meeting.