I posted ages ago for advice, after moving in with dp I was 3 miles from dc's current school, and was trying to get them into the village school. Thanks to PR47's encouragement I now have the county providing a taxi to school. Then in Jan I won the appeal for Ds (yr3), and he began on Monday. I still have Dd1, but that's a no hoper as she's y1. But with the taxi, having kids at 2 different schools isn't really a problem.
So big thank you for all your advice. I'd never have known about the transport thing, and had been discouraged by the council when I first enquired, and I truly believe your info helped my put together the appeal in a more coherent manner.