Reception class appeal refused

[TBDHJH]

Hi, I'm looking for help / advice regarding primary school placements.
My DS hasn't gained entry into any of our village schools, one is 0.29 miles from our home, but takes church points as preference, the other is 0.6 miles and we were 31 - therefore he was refused on infant class size.
We went to appeal hearings for both schools, citing our primary reason as DS safety & security for both DS and ourselves - his Father works in a High Security Prison and the school place we have been offered is located in an area in which puts us & DS in danger, we fear we would be recognized..
We provided substantial evidence of this, yet the LEA feel that the decision to refuse was reasonable in the circumstances.
2 months ago I was 1st on the waiting list for our preferred school, since then, a late application from another child who has moved closer to the school than us has resulted in us being moved back to 2nd on the waiting list.
Is there anything more I can do?
Im at a loss.

Thanks

If you work in high security, its unlikely locals will have family inside, as dispersals take offenders from all over so I really wouldn't worry about that! 15 years in the prison service and I've never seen anyone offender or family in the local area.

first be very positive about the place your child has been offered if you have accepted it and it is likely (at the moment at least) that he could be going there in September. Don't make him feel that it is second best.

Second make sure you are on the waiting lists for any other acceptable schools . As you know waiting lists can change, with any luck one will change in your favour, there might be families who are on the point of moving completely outside the area but who are hanging on to a place just in case.

I think that sadly that is all you can do at the moment.

Different LAs do have different views on "high risk" jobs and places in schools but the issue here is the infant class size regulations. They are so restrictive that they give appeal panel members no possibility of applying sense to the situation. The admission criteria do not usually give the LA the potential to make any exception, so once the 30 places have been allocated and there is no mistake been made, the panel has no where to go to other than refuse the appeal.

I suspect that if this was in my LA and an appeal that was not infant class size that there would be a different outcome.

I am afraid there is nothing you can do about the preferred school and your only real possibility is to look for another school that is not full or will not have appeals that are within the infant class size regs.