Applying for secondary school

Your friend is wrong. People cannot hold the council to ransome by only putting one school. How on earth would that work with popular schools if every applicant only put that school? She is talking bobbins.

You are correct. Your friend is wrong.

(As an aside, technically, the schools rank all of the people who applied in order, if your name comes up on more than one list, they offer you your highest preference - putting a school last doesnt reduce your chances of getting a place over someone who puts it first, you are both judged on the admissions criteria, not preference order, for each school)

A mum at school has said this is wrong and if I only put one option they'll only offer that school (apparently knows people in admissions) and by putting the 3 choices they'll just pick from the list

She is talking bollocks.

What happens you apply for three schools (or 4/5 in other areas) The schools rank all applicants against criteria. If you qualify for more than one school, you get your highest preference. If you qualify for none, you get the nearest school with a place.

You're right, the mum at school is wrong.

If you just put one school and don't get it, the LA will just allocate the nearest school with space.

If you put three schools, they'll work down the list, as you say. However, if you don't get any of those three, the LA can allocate the nearest school with space.

If you have the opportunity to put more than three options on the form (e.g. we had five), it's wise to use them all, perhaps to cover the next nearest schools in terms of distance, even if you don't love them. Bear in mind, the "nearest school with space" = "the nearest school with space after we've allocated places there to all the people who put it on their preference list". So it's the least popular schools that are likely to have spaces for people who haven't got any of the schools they put on their forms.

You are correct. Your friend is talking nonsense.