Number of primary registrations

[MNmum]

Ideally want to send my DD to St. Paul's girls or otherwise another London girls independent school - but apart from registering with the obvious feeder schools, how many additional schools do people usually register with to be "sure" that you'll get at least one primary spot? I can't risk not getting a primary school spot even if it's not with one of our preferred schools but at the same time can't spend a fortune on registration fees. I'm not from the UK so the system is totally confusing!

You can't be sure, unfortunately, unless you have a nearby 'first come first served' school and put your DC down very early on.

You say you're not from the UK, but does that mean you are overseas now, or living here but unfamiliar? Have you been to any open days yet?

That's what I feared. Is there any way of gaging your chances? Such as are there (reliable) companies that will test the kids and assess their chances of getting in to certain schools?

I live in the UK now but come from a country where it's all state school and your kids just get allocated a slot without even applying so the UK system is hard to navigate for us. Haven't been to any open days yet (planning to go to a few of course) and working long hours makes it hard to go to "all"