Family's fight to secure school place for son after he is only one in year group to be rejected

• Watch the video report by ITV Wales journalist Richard Morgan

An 11-year-old boy from Newport has said it would change his life if he was given a place in the same local secondary school as his friends, after he was the only pupil in his year group not to be accommodated.

Alfie Vollans parents were told that Bassaleg School in the city was full. However, Alfie's father has claimed that children who applied after his family were granted places.

The family have now started an online petition, which on Tuesday morning had over 86,000 signatures.

Alfie said dealing with the whole experience was difficult for him.

"My parents have made it a lot easier, but it's still obviously very stressful," he said.

Asked if the worst aspect of the situation was missing out on going to the same secondary school as his friends Alfie replied: "Yeah. Probably. Yeah."

As an alternative Newport City Council has offered Alfie a place at a school on the other side of the city.

The council has offered to pay for a taxi to and from the school for Alfie, which would involve a 26-mile round trip and, Alfie's father Simon says, would cost around £8,5000 of public money.

Simon said he felt the proposal did not make sense either economically or environmentally.

He said: "The local authority are going to pay for the taxi, which we reckon is about eight and a half thousand pounds a year.

"So there's great expense to the environment I would have thought as well, chugging across the city for an hour or two hours a day in both directions."

Alfie's parents have appealed against the decision although it was unsuccessful.

In response Newport City Council said it had turned down 93 applications for places at Bassaleg School.

It said in a statement: "We have every sympathy with families in this situation, but we have a duty to balance the needs of individuals with the school's need to be able to safely accommodate pupils."

Alfie's next door neighbour Amanda has also spoken out about his situation.

Her daughter has been granted a place at Bassaleg School and she believes if Alfie misses out it will have a notable impact on his life.

She said: "It doesn't just affect Alfie, it affects all of his friends that have built a relationship with him.

"It affects the sports clubs of which he's a part, they've created a team network.

"I think that just strikes a chord with so many people when we've gone through such a hard time over the past 18 months."