Phillip Spratt has two children at Moriarty and said the school was thriving, with enrolments increasing from 73 children last year to 81 this year.

``It may be a smaller school, but it's the sort of school where no child's a stranger, where teachers will see every child everyday,'' he said. ``Kids who didn't feel secure in a large school environment have come to Moriarty and just thrived.''

Moriarty was one of 10 North-West schools that failed the main criteria for remaining open in the School Viability Reference Group's report, which was released earlier this month.

It more than doubled the schools on last year's abandoned closure hit list.

The report is being considered by Education minister Nick McKim.

One of the recommendations in the report was that rural primary schools were to have at least 100 students enrolled in first term last year.

In the North-West, Moriarty, Sassafras, Wilmot, Stanley, Sprent, Strahan, Edith Creek, Natone, Zeehan and Redpa primary schools did not meet that criteria.

``But you might get a kid who thrives in a small school environment but wouldn't like a large one and vice versa,'' Mr Spratt said.

``You can have large schools and small schools, but if you have this homogenous blend of schools where everything's the same size, that doesn't give the parents a choice.

``If you start removing that parental choice, is that an advantage? I don't think so.''

Mr Spratt also voiced concerns about the future population growth if the school was closed.

``We're in a unique situation with the new Port Sorell school and everything that's going on within this immediate area,'' he said.

``From what I understand, this area is one of the largest areas in terms of population growth in Australia. But at the end of the day, if you were to close any one of these schools (Moriarty, Wesley Vale or Sassafras) does it leave enough capacity for the future growth in population?''

The Education Department's deputy secretary Andrew Finch said the department would ``continue to work with the local community around educational provision in the Port Sorell and surrounding areas''.