Cymdeithas yr Iaith has congratulated the officers of Conwy County Council for their willingness to be persuaded by public opinion to amend their strategy so as to support Welsh-medium rural schools.In a letter to the Society, Conwy's Chief Education Officer, Geraint James, says that he will be amending the strategy"to show the strength of feeling and view held by these communities that they wish to keep and indeed strengthen the schools in rural Welsh-speaking villages."The Council has also accepted Cymdeithas's argument that these schools should be developed as wider community resources, and the letter states that the Council's Community Development Dept will be part of the programme to develop these schools. It is expected that the revised strategy to strengthen the village schools through a range of positive options will be presented to the Council towards the end of October.Cymdeithas Education spokesperson, Ffred Ffransis, commented:"This is great news for rural communities such as Llangwm, Ysbyty Ifan, Penmachno, Pentrefoelas, Capel Garmon, Ro-wen and others. As long as these communities stand by their schools, I believe that they will receive positive support from enlightened officers in this county.""Obviously the communities were very suspicious of the recent Consultation, fearing that yet another Council was going through the motions before setting about a pre-conceived agenda of school closures. It is like a breath of fresh air to find here a Council which appears to be actually taking notice of public opinion and revising its policy as a result, rather than sticking to its own bureaucratic agenda. This is in stark contrast to the efforts of Gwynedd Council - just over the county border - to try to force through a policy of closing Ysgol y Parc in opposition to the views of every single school and community in the area.""It is particularly encouraging that Conwy is willing to take on board pioneering concepts such as developing the schools as engines to revive the village communities. This strategy could be an example to the rest of Wales."