One of the most substantial shifts of the last 20 years has been the move of state schools away from direct local authority control – 80% of state secondaries are now academies or free schools – as are 50% of all state primaries and state SEN schools.

When you overlay that with schools that prioritise based on faith, academic or co-curricular aptitude and catchment, families are facing an increasingly complicated patchwork when making an “in-year” application.