HAMPTON -- Launching a preschool program in the fall, Sacred Heart School in Hampton is overwhelmed with applicants for the new teaching position.

A popular Catholic school that has been coping with long waiting lists for several years, SHS currently offers grades K through 8, including a pre-First Grade Readiness program. According to Sister Mary Joan Walsh, principal, this will be the first time in the school's history that a pre-school class will be offered. Established in 1962, SHS began as a middle school, gradually adding first the junior high grades and then the elementary level grades.

But expansion brings problems as well, and according to Sister Mary Joan, "Because so many qualified and vivacious applicants have applied for the preschool position, we are having a very difficult time choosing from among them.

Sacred Heart School's Kindergarten program, which was established ten years ago under the direction of Alice Levis, has become so successful that beginning next fall, the school will offer two Kindergarten classes - a half-day program that becomes a full-day program in January, and a continuous full-day program. The new Kindergarten class is another first for the Hampton school.

The new pre-school class will be held five days a week, from 8:25-11:15 a.m., and will have a maximum enrollment of 15 students. "This class is a pre-Kindergarten class for four- and young five-year-olds," Sister Mary Joan said. "At the present time, we are planning one session, but if the demand is great, we will expand to a second pre-school session in the afternoon, from 12 noon to 3:00 p.m."

Each preschool session will have a teacher as well as an aide. Although the classes will have access to the facilities in the main school building, Sister Mary Joan explained, the preschool sessions will have their own space in a separate modular unit. Tuition for the preschool is $1,600 per year, payable over 10 months or less.

According to the principal, the parochial school is also considering an extended day-care program. "If the demand warrants, we will consider implementing an extended day-care program from 7:30-8:30 a.m., and from 3:00-5:30 p.m.," she said.