A Government official has recommended Bristol City Council closes all its poor-performing primary schools.

But children's services director Heather Tomlinson said the authority had decided not to pursue that course, not least because it would leave some parts of the city without any schools.

She explained to the children's services scrutiny commission yesterday that officers had instead looked at a range of factors when planning for the future of education provision for four to 11-year-olds.

These included the state of the buildings and the demand for school places in the area, as well as performance in national tests.

This had led them to draw up their primary review, which was unveiled in May and included proposals for the closure of up to six primary schools before 2013.

The review also put forward schemes for a number of amalgamations and federations, which would further reduce the number of schools providing for the age range.

The aim is to secure Government funding for building new schools and refurbishing old ones. To qualify for the money, the council must have in place a long-term, citywide strategic plan for primary provision.

This must reduce surplus primary school places below 10 per cent; improve value for money and offer economies of scale; maximise the strengths of current provision and address under-performance.

Ms Tomlinson said: "We can't spend the Government money without taking some hard decisions. We can't only do the nice things; the expansions and the refurbishments."

The commission was presented with a report outlining the responses to the initial review. Members were asked to give advice and guidance to inform the cabinet, which will make its decision on revised proposals on September 25.

The commission received representations from the three schools scheduled for outright closure: St George's in Brandon Hill, St Pius X in Withywood and Stockwood Green; from Carolyne Wheeler, on behalf of Avon Primary in Shirehampton, which is objecting to its proposed merger with Avonmouth Church of England Primary; from Councillor Sylvia Townsend and from Sefton Park infant and junior school, opposing plans for amalgamation.

The report also outlined 570 responses received from members of the public.

But members were told this was a little misleading, as petitions with many hundreds of signatures had been submitted and officers admitted some other representations had gone astray.

Tory councillor John Goulandris said he felt the review had been approached from the cost rather than the quality perspective and that shutting the worst performing schools would be a better way to go.

Ms Tomlinson said the Department of Children, Schools and Families representative who helped the city look at ways to raise attainment had suggested closing or federating all primaries that did not reach the floor target of at least 65 per cent of pupils making the grade in English and maths tests.

The latest figures presented to the commission showed 26 out of 94 primary/junior schools missed the target in English this year and 31 in maths.

Ms Tomlinson said: "Overall about 25 per cent of our schools are below the floor target. It does mean we won't have enough schools to meet statutory provision. In some areas of the city there would be no schools for pupils to go to, and those are areas of rising population."

She agreed with commission members Roger White and Councillor Ron Stone that other factors, such as an increasing refugee population, social cohesion issues, levels of deprivation and impact on communities, were also important. Ms Tomlinson said officers would consider various points raised by commission members before finalising their report.

Among these would be calls for:

Full details of all the consultation responses received.

More data on schools where objections have been raised.

More data on why the worst performing schools were not recommended for closure.

A pragmatic approach to federation rather than amalgamation of infant and junior schools.

An improved educational rationale for the proposals.

A strategy for supporting affected schools to minimise any detriment to children.