First Year

A First Year is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who is new to Hogwarts and in their first year of magical education.

Traveling to Hogwarts
First Years are typically eleven to twelve year of age, and begin the year by crossing travelling by the Hogwarts Express at 11 am, bringing the students to Hogmeade station. If they are a wizardry family and do live in [Hogsmeade] they do not need to catch the train though many wizardry do not live in Hogsmeade. From there, first year students are accompanied by the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds – or another suitable teacher if they are absent – to small boats, which magically sail themselves across the lake to arrive at a small landing stage near the castle of Hogwarts; next, they await their turn to get sorted into their houses. The older students ride up to the castle in carriages pulled by creatures called Thestrals, winged horse-like creatures that are invisible to all Muggles and to witches and wizards who have not personally witnessed someone's death. A teacher takes them to a small room to await to be Sorted.

The Welcoming Feast
Just before the Welcoming Feast, there is the Sorting ceremony; the students are Sorted into the four houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin) by the Sorting Hat. After the sorting, Dumbledore says a threw words and the welcoming fest begins. After the meals have been eaten, Dumbledore says a threw words,Dumbledore directs the school song at the end of the start-of-term feast when he feels in a particularly festive mood. ], when Harry Potter came to Hogwarts.Dumbledoredirects the song with his wand. He flicks out a ribbon that floats in the air, creating the words for the students to sing along with, each singing to the tune of their choice. The rest of the staff does not appear to share Dumbledore's delight in this little ritual, but he conducts the singing with gusto and even gets a bit misty at the end of :

Hogwarts, Hogwarts,  Hoggy Warty Hogwarts  Teach us something, please,  Whether we be old and bald  Or young with scabby knees,  Our heads could do with filling  With some interesting stuff,  For now they're bare and full of air,  Dead flies and bits of fluff,  So teach us things worth knowing,  Bring back what we've forgot,  Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  ''And learn until our brains all rot. ''

House Dormitories
After they sing this, they follow their house prefects to their house dormintory. They eiher have to say a password, (Gryffindor, Slytherin, and perhaps Hufflepuffs case) or they have to answer a question,(Ravenclaw's case} to enter through the potrait that leads to their dormitory.

The students sleep in their House dormitories, which branch off from the common rooms. Each year gets at least two rooms; one for boys and one for girls. Each student sleeps in a large four poster bed with bed covers and heavy curtains in the House colours, and thick white pillows. There is a bedside table for each bed, and each dormitory has a jug of water and glasses on a tray.

Life as a First Year
The second day begins at Hogwarts with breakfast in theGreat Hall.Students sit at their own House table and can eat as well as socialize, or finish homework. The headmaster eats with the professors at the High Table placed at the far end of the hall. During breakfast, owls bring in the students' post, generally consisting of The Daily Prophet, letters from parents or friends, or packages from home. A bell signals the start of the first class of the morning at 9 a.m. There are two long morning ) in order to gain entrance.

Inside is the common room, which contain armchairs anclasses with a short break in between them for students to get to their next class. After lunch classes resume at 1 p.m., and there is a break around afternoon teatime before another class period. The classes are about forty-five minutes in length, and the classes end at around five o' clock. First year students sometimes get Friday afternoons off. In the evening, students eat their dinner in the Great Hall, after which they are expected to be in their common rooms.

The four House dormitories have secret entrances known only to members of that house and require a password (with the exception of the entrance to the Ravenclaw dormitory, where one is required to correctly answer a riddled sofas for the pupils, as well as tables for studying. There are fireplaces to keep the rooms warm, and students either relax here in the evenings or else complete their homework. There are notice boards in each common room, too, as well as at other strategic points throughout the school. There are also parties in these common rooms, where students celebrate after winning a Quidditch game, or when someone from the house achieves something. There are usually ten first-years per house (five girls, five boys), leaving a total of forty students per year.  First year classes include Flying Lessons, Potions, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Astronomy, and Charms.

First year restrictions
First years cannot go to Hogsmeade with the students in the third year or above, and they are not permitted to have their own broomstick inside the school grounds, an exception being Harry Potter, who is given a Nimbus 2000 in his first year, and Draco Malfoy, who is given a Nimbus 2001 by his father in his second year. They also cannot take the classes, Divination,Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Study of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy until the third year and up.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Links

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Hogwarts subjects
 * Sorting ceremony
 * Sorting Hat