IF you have found religion or moved in with your in-laws in support of your school place application, be prepared to prove it.

Bristol City Council has revealed that the number of people found to have made fraudulent applications has risen in three years from two to eight.

The authority has not yet taken the step of using lie detectors or private detectives - but it hasn't ruled out such measures.

The whole business of getting your child into the right school is more fraught than ever this year, with the two former private schools Colston's Girls' and Bristol Cathedral Choir School becoming part of the common applications process for the first time.

With changes to criteria following the introduction of the Government's admissions code, and more new academies bringing in their own procedures, it can be baffling for parents to decide on their best course of action.

It doesn't help that the city council's admissions guide leaves out one school - City Academy in Lawrence Hill - altogether and contains errors in several other entries, including replacing the name of Monks Park head Dr Helen Holman with that of Lesley Ann Jones, principal of Colston's Girls.

St Mary Redcliffe and Temple has altered its admissions criteria following a ruling by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. Although he did not uphold a parents' complaint, he suggested some changes to the wording.

But head teacher Elisabeth Gilpin stressed that there was no change in the application form.

"We are pleased that the basic tone of our guidance is seen to be acceptable and we are glad to have it clarified and the wording improved," she said.

Meanwhile, Redland Green School's catchment area has been reduced in the hope of giving parents a more realistic idea of their chances of getting a place.

Nevertheless this school and several others look certain to be oversubscribed.

BCCS reported 2,000 visitors at its open days and CGS 1,500. New state schools such as Brislington Enterprise College and Bristol Metropolitan College also saw hundreds taking a look round.

Primary schools in some areas are also likely to see demand for places exceed supply,.

This year this has resulted in parents taking their four-year-olds out of the state sector and forking out for private schools.

At secondary level, Bristol's nine fee-charging schools say they have seen a surprisingly high level of interest at open days, given the national and international situation.

But what all this means will only become over the next six months.

The first and most crucial deadline is this Friday, October 24. You need to get your application in by 5pm, otherwise you reduce your chances of getting your preferred school.

In January, entrance tests for independent schools, both state-funded and private, will take place and then on March 2, all offers of secondary places across the country will be made.

Families who miss out on the schools they want have the right to go to appeal. Hundreds do, but few are successful.

No wonder some are tempted to cheat ...