Antique dealer Antonia White is sitting exhausted on a sofa. She's just returned from yet another three-hour stint looking at secondary schools for her 10-year-old daughter Clare. "I'm shattered," she says. "It's stressful and boring. All the chemistry labs look the same and all the parents look like people we wouldn't want to know."
Her comments will strike a chord with thousands of other parents this autumn, as September and October are peak season for secondary-school open days (parents need to be on the ball as the dates are often only listed on the school's website, sometimes at the last moment). For the next few weeks, those with children approaching the next stage of their school career (both in the state and private sector) will be making their way along packed corridors, trying to spot the "best" school for their child. It can be an uncomfortable process - at some popular London secondaries the queues stretch down the street. (The public school system still has its main entrance point at 13, after prep school.)
Ideally, anyone looking for a school from age 11 should begin the search when their child has just started Year 5. This helps whittle down the choices before the final year at primary school (Year 6). Drawing up a shortlist when a child is 9 or 10 also allows for a year of coaching for 11-plus exams for selective state and private schools.
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