The search for a good school can take some time

Step 1: Find out which schools are in your area

Clearly, many people hear about schools through word-of-mouth and this is a good starting point - though it pays to be wary of "school gate" gossip.

The Ofsted website is useful: enter your postcode and a list of local schools pops up with the distance to your home.

Contact your local council, which will have a guide or website on general school admissions.

Step 2: Check out the schools virtually

Do this through the league tables - published by the BBC News website and most national and local newspapers.

Bear in mind that the published average is not necessarily a guide to what your child would attain there.

High results might indicate an academically pressured environment - which might not suit everyone. Then again, the "value added" progress indicator might be a better reflection of the quality of teaching.

Most schools now have their own websites, which offer varying degrees of information on the school, from the basic (head teacher, telephone number) to the all-singing and dancing variety which will tell you more about the curriculum, specialism, streaming policy, school ethos or extra activities.

They should have information about school places or links to council sites with general, authority-wide information on admissions.

Step 3: Check out the schools virtually some more

Read the Ofsted reports on the schools. Schools in England will be inspected now at least once every three years. They will be graded either outstanding, good, satisfactory or inadequate.

Inspectors will assess the standard of teaching and learning, the strength of leadership and the progress made by children there. Schools will be inspected more often if they give cause for concern.

Another potentially useful place for information on individual schools is the government-run Schoolsfinder website.

You should be able to read what a school has to say about itself in a School Profile and get other details about it.

Step 4: Check out the schools in person

Many parents and experts alike see this as the most important thing to do. Does its ethos fit yours and if it doesn't, can you live with it?

Can you see your child being happy there? Does your child like the place?

All schools will hold open days or evenings, when you will have the chance to walk around, hear from the head teacher or other school leaders and often the pupils themselves.

In the state sector these will normally run in the autumn term, with dates and times available from individual schools or via the local authority.

But your child's existing school will usually authorise absence so you can visit prospective schools during an ordinary working day, which might give you a better "feel" for the place.

Do not make assumptions about the curriculum - ask. For example, if your daughter is very keen to learn Spanish there is little point in choosing a school that offers French and German.

Step 5: Draw up your shortlist and find out if you have a hope of getting a place

This is one of the hardest parts, because if you are looking at a variety of different types of school, they might all have different criteria for admissions.

One might prioritise first by distance, one by siblings, one by faith.

You have to check each school's arrangements separately and see whether you meet their criteria.

Having read up on it with information from the schools or their websites or through local authority publications, you can quiz school leaders on the subject.

They will normally want to be open about their criteria and who usually gets in, though they will not tell you whether your individual child will get in.

Councils may also publish statistics that give you an indication on the likelihood of a successful application.

So now, hopefully, having weighed up all the evidence you can:

Step 6: Make a realistic choice and put it on a form

There is now one form on which you enter your preferences in numerical order. The deadline for handing this in is usually late October and it can be done online.

You should be offered the school highest up your list whose criteria you meet.

Schools are no longer allowed to penalise an applicant for not putting them at the top of the list. They should not know where you have put them.

Previously, if you lived close to the boundary of two or more councils and were applying to schools both inside and outside of that authority, you would fill out separate forms for each authority.

But in an effort to co-ordinate admissions across England, a common form is now being used. This also stops parents from having more than one "first choice".

However, if one or more of your choices is a faith school, you also have to fill in a form from that school and check you meet its criteria. You will normally need a reference from your vicar, priest or other religious leader.

Step 7: Wait

Local authorities release details of who has got what place on 1 March. Some schools will write individually to applicants.

The councils - through a computer - will be weighing up who best meets a particular school's criteria, which can include proximity, siblings already there, special needs, feeder schools.

Where schools are very over-subscribed, a lottery may be used, as in the case of Brighton and Hove authority.

Step 8: Accept, wait some more or appeal

If you did not get your favourite school and don't want to give up on it, you can ask to be put on the waiting list. Some people might not take up their places and you might get a place, albeit months later.

You can appeal, which means your case will be looked at by an independent panel. The panel will decide whether you have been dealt with fairly and a school could be told to find a place for your child.

Often local authorities will send out details of how to appeal with the letter saying which school your child has been offered a place at. Forms will be available from the individual councils.

About one in 10 families do appeal every year. Just over 70% of those are heard by an appeal panel - of which a third win their cases.

Increasingly, parents are turning to advice from commercial websites or groups run by other parents who have "taken on the system".

These include Schools Appeals Services and School Appeals, where - for a fee - people who have worked on appeals panels offer advice on individual cases or can even attend a hearing with you.

Free advice is offered by groups such as the Advisory Centre for Education.