Stuck in application limbo? Here's how to get your kid into a good school quick smart.

Minus the stress.

The first thing I did after swooning over my newborn son’s deliciousness and grappling with breastfeeding was to ask the midwife for a pen.

There was a pile of forms to be signed and they had to be signed that very day. There will be many of you nodding right now, as you know exactly what forms I am talking about: school applications.

If you haven’t been through the process, you might think I am joking.

You might be shocked to think that parents actually think about this even before they hit the delivery ward. But it’s true.

The forms were in the mail before we left the hospital. And I use the plural deliberately here. There were forms in multiple. And for my three children together, we have applied for a dozen schools.

Choosing the right school for your child is stressful. Australia offers a wonderful education system with a whole spectrum of choice, but as a mum you want to do the right thing for your child – and when they are just days old, there is simply no way of knowing what the right education choice for them will be.

Should they go independent? Public? Catholic? Will they be sporty? Will they need specialist help?

Of course no one knows what their child’s future needs will be. But what I did know back then was that independent schools in Australia were notorious for their long waiting lists and that if I wanted to have that option, I needed to act early.

In fact, the demand for places was so intense that my son didn’t actually get into any of the four schools we placed his name down for.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this is an advertorial for School Places.

You’ve heard the stories, haven’t you? 150 children ahead of your son at one school. 400 at another. It’s daunting. So you lobby and you cajole and you ring and you write.

Now, years later, I’m in the middle of deciding on my son’s new school. Again.

And I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever been faced with as a parent.

I am tormented with whether I am doing the right thing. He’s happy at his current school, he has so many friends and he is so comfortable. What if he struggles? What if it’s not right? What if after all this time and all this effort he hates it? What if? But at the same time, it just feels right. It’s time for a change.

If you’ve been through this before, you know the drill. You draw ledgers of how you will make ends meet with the fees at the various schools. You weigh up your child’s interests with what they offer and you come back each and every time to the age-old question: Will they get in? Yep, it’s stressful. Or at least, it used to be.

But these days, there’s the School Places website to help out.

It is a tool to help you search for real time places available at private schools. You just enter your area and criteria and then you can see what last-minute places exist right up until 2017.

So while you might need a crystal ball to know which school will suit your child’s talents and interests best, School Places helps to alleviate some of the mental stress that goes with the decision – and with many reductions on offer, it also helps alleviate some of that financial stress, too.

At the moment, my son is still in limbo. Friends have told me to put emotion aside and just make a decision. When I work out how to do that, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime though, I am back to School Places.

Want more? Try these:

“Why I’m happy to take my kids out of school next week.”

To all the parents who scoff at school food bans.

School Places helps take the pressure off families looking for a private school vacancy for their child. Search real-time vacancies and claim a discounted last-minute place at one of Australia’s leading schools. Get on board and start saving today.