A number of small schools in Denbighshire have been threatened with closure after the council vowed to shake-up the education system.

It follows a new report which revealed some schools in the region had spare places, while others were overcrowded.

To avoid bitterness and confrontation locally, the council should make every effort to get the communities affected to co-operate Aled Davies The Welsh Language Society

Individual reviews for all schools will be carried out to determine which should be closed, merged or given extra resources.

But the Welsh Language Society has warned councillors they will be heading for a clash with local communities and the Welsh Assembly if they plan to shut smaller schools.

The society claimed, at a recent meeting, Welsh Education Minister Jane Davidson laid down a series of guidelines which should be followed before schools closures would be permitted.

"To avoid bitterness and confrontation locally, the council should make every effort to get the communities affected to co-operate," said the society's vice-chair Aled Davies.

The prime consideration must be the maximising of educational achievement for all children and young people in our schools Rhiannon Hughes, Denbighshire Council

On Tuesday, the council's cabinet agreed to pursue a shake up of education in the county.

The range of subject choice in the sixth form, the state of the school buildings and distances that pupils have to travel - could all be used during the surveys.

No decisions over the future of any individual schools have yet been made.

The local authority said they want to equal out the levels of funding per pupil at each school and reinvested the savings into schools.

Assembly targets

Denbighshire councillor Rhiannon Hughes, cabinet member for lifelong learning said the needs of the children were the main priority.

"The prime consideration must be the maximising of educational achievement and equality of opportunity for all children and young people in our schools."

She said the shake-up was vital to meet the Welsh Assembly criteria of providing adequate school buildings for all by 2010.

"This target will not be met unless the review identifies some school buildings which are no longer used or are unviable or unsustainable," she said.

"Funding must be freed up to meet areas of greatest need."

In July 2002, one of Wales' biggest teaching unions said more than 200 small schools across the country should close - because they were too small to teach the National Curriculum properly.

NASUWT Cymru suggested schools with less than 50 pupils were too small to cope with teaching demands.

The union argued teachers in rural areas of Wales were overstretched and that small schools fail to offer a full educational experience to pupils.