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Magical schools

Wizarding school

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At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Hogwarts Legacy, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

Map of select wizarding schools around the world

"The number of countries that have their own magical school is minuscule compared to those that do not. This is because the wizarding populations of most countries choose the option of home schooling. Occasionally, too, the magical community in a given country is tiny or far-flung and correspondence courses have been found a more cost-effective means of educating the young."
— Overview of wizarding schools[src]

A wizarding school (also called a magical school) was an educational institution which provides magical instruction to young witches and wizards.[1]

There were eleven long-established and prestigious wizarding schools throughout the world, all of which were registered with the International Confederation of Wizards. Smaller and less well-regulated institutions were rarely registered with the appropriate Ministry and are difficult to keep track of.[1]

However, most countries in the world did not have their own wizarding school. Magical children in these countries were typically homeschooled or educated via correspondence courses.[1]

School locations

The exact locations of most wizarding schools were kept secret, both to prevent the schools from being discovered by Muggles and to protect them from the harmful effects of war or interference by domestic or foreign governments. Generally, magical schools were situated in landlocked, mountainous areas, which were difficult to access without magic and easier to defend in case of attack.[1] There were, however, exceptions, such as Mahoutokoro School of Magic located on the island of Minami Iwo Jima, and Castelobruxo in the Amazon rainforest.

Range and regulation

The vast majority of countries in the world did not have their own wizarding school.[1] Wizards and witches in these countries generally chose to homeschool their children instead.[1] Correspondence courses were also sometimes used as a cost-effective method of providing magical instruction to young witches and wizards in countries with very small or isolated wizarding populations.[1]

Day student of Mahoutokoro in Japan riding to school on a giant storm petrel

Wizarding schools generally admitted students from whatever country in which they were based, but some served multiple nations or a broad geographical region, or at least were open to accepting international students on a selective basis. Castelobruxo, Ilvermorny and Uagadou accepted students from all over their respective continents,[2][3][4] whereas Hogwarts only accepted students from the United Kingdom and Ireland.[5][6]

The school with the smallest number of students was Mahoutokoro, and the school with the most students was Uagadou.[2][7]

Some schools also enforced special restrictions with regard to the admission of students. The Durmstrang Institute, for example, did not accept Muggle-born witches and wizards.[8]

The Educational Office of the International Confederation of Wizards was responsible for cataloguing and overseeing wizarding schools around the world, namely the eleven oldest, most respected ones.[1] Smaller wizarding schools existed, but these were often short-lived and poorly-regulated, as most were not registered with the respective Ministry of Magic of the country in which they operated.[1] The quality of magical education on offer at these smaller, unregistered institutions was thus questionable.[1] Africa was known to have been home to a number of smaller wizarding schools in addition to Uagadou.[2] The book An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe covered publicly available information on various wizarding schools in Europe.[8]

Interaction between schools

Beauxbatons students arriving at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament in 1994

Every five years, a competition known as the Triwizard Tournament was held between the three major European wizarding schools: Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Hogwarts. One champion was selected to represent each school (with the exception of the 1994 Triwizard Tournament, when Hogwarts ended up with two champions) to compete in an array of deadly challenges. The winning school received the Triwizard Cup.[8]

The Wizarding Schools Potions Championship was held in seven-year intervals between students of Hogwarts, Koldovstoretz, Mahoutokoro and Uagadou. The winning school received a golden cauldron.[9]

Castelobruxo in Brazil offered student exchange programmes to pupils at wizarding schools in Europe.[4] There was apparently also an international pen-friend programme in place for students of Castelobruxo and Hogwarts.[4][10] Bill Weasley wanted to take an exchange trip to Castelobruxo, but had to back out because his family could not afford the expense, leading his upset Castelobruxo pen-friend to send him a cursed hat.[4][10] Beauxbatons Academy of Magic also offered student exchange programme.

Specialised schools

Outside of general education, the wizarding world offered specialised schools of learning as well. Such schools include the Academy of Broom Flying, Charm School, Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages, Merge School of Under-Water Spellage and the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Known wizarding schools

Image Wizarding School Location Range Date Founded
Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.png Beauxbatons Academy of Magic Pyrenees, France[11] France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium[11] Unknown, pre-1290s[12]
CastelobruxoSchoolofMagic.png Castelobruxo Amazon rainforest, Brazil[4] All over South America[4] 10th or 11th century[13]
DurmstrangInstitute.png Durmstrang Institute Scandinavia; northernmost reaches of either Norway
or Sweden[14][15][16] 		Willing to accept international students,[8] but presumably mainly Northern and Eastern Europe Pre-1290s[12]
HogwartsSchool.png Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Highlands, Scotland[17] Scotland, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales[5][6] Late 10th century[18]
IlvermornySchoolofMagic.png Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Mount Greylock, United States of America[19] All over North America[19] Early seventeenth century[20]
Koldovstoretz Quidditch.png Koldovstoretz Russia Russia

[21]

Unknown
MahoutokoroSchoolofMagic.png Mahoutokoro School of Magic Minami Iwo Jima, Japan[7] Japan

[7]

Unknown
Uagadou School of Magic.png Uagadou School of Magic Mountains of the Moon, Uganda[3][2] All over Africa[3][2] Pre- 11th century[22]

Behind the scenes

  • The Salem Witches' Institute was once thought by some fans to be a wizarding school in the United States. J. K. Rowling has since revealed that the Salem Witches' Institute is a play on the Women's Institute in Britain.[23]
  • It is unknown how Muggle-borns in countries without a magical school receive a magical Education or if there are Muggle-borns unaware of their powers: this could cause issues regarding the Statute of Secrecy.
    • One method could be said that they can attend schools with a wider acceptance range. (Ex: a Belgian Muggle-born could attend Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, a South African Muggleborn could attend Uagadou School of Magic or a Canadian Muggle-born could attend Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.)
    • It is worth noting that the 11 wizarding schools mentioned in canon are not the only ones in the world. There are many other smaller wizarding schools around the world for children who cannot or don't want to attend the "Great 11." Africa is said to encompass many smaller schools beside Uagadou.
    • It is possible that some independent teachers that are not employed by any school have specialised in teaching muggle-borns. Before the founding of Hogwarts, Queen Maeve was famous for teaching young Irish wizards, and Pottermore states that home-schooling is still common in the wizarding world.
  • Until the summer of 1994, Harry Potter had not given much thought to wizarding schools outside of Hogwarts. It was only when he saw some foreign students and informed by Hermione Granger that they must attend Beauxbatons that he became aware of this.
  • Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and Hogwarts have been described as the three largest wizarding schools in Europe, meaning that there is at least one other wizarding school on the continent.
  • It is not known so far where the three remaining schools of the Great 11 are located. JK Rowling did, however, hint in a tweet that one of them could be located in Australia.

Appearances

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Wizarding Schools" at Wizarding World
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Uagadou" at Wizarding World
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 @naunihalpublic Uagadou takes students from all over Africa, but it is in Uganda. #IAgreePottermoreShouldSayThatWillChangeDescription by J. K. Rowling on Twitter.com
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Castelobruxo" at Wizarding World
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 3 July 1999 interview in the Telegraph
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 8 July 2000 South West News Service interview
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Mahoutokoro" at Wizarding World
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  9. ↑ Wonderbook: Book of Potions
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 7 (Bagman and Crouch)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Beauxbatons Academy of Magic" at Wizarding World
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Triwizard Tournament was founded in the 1290s, according to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 12 (The Triwizard Tournament), implying Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang all existed.
  13. ↑ Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Castelobruxo" at Wizarding World - "The fabulous castle appears to be a ruin to the few Muggle eyes that have ever fallen upon it (a trick shared by Hogwarts; opinion is divided on who got the idea from whom)."
  14. ↑ Report on Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre reading
  15. ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Hermione: "It must be far north because they have fur capes on the uniform list."
  16. ↑ Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Durmstrang Institute" at Wizarding World
  17. ↑ 1997 interview in The Herald (Glasgow)
  18. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 9 (The Writing on the Wall) tells us that Slytherin made the Chamber of Secrets over a thousand years before 1992, shortly before he left Hogwarts
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Pottermore - News: "Pottermore reveals that Ilvermorny is the North American wizarding school"
  20. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "History of Magic in North America: Seventeenth Century and Beyond"
  21. ↑ Pottermore facts from the 2014 UK editions of the Harry Potter books (transcript and link to photographs here)
  22. ↑ Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Uagadou" at Wizarding World - "Africa has a number of smaller wizarding schools [...] there is only one that has stood the test of time (at least a thousand years) and achieved an enviable international reputation: Uagadou."
  23. ↑ .@jgrahamhutch The Salem Witches' Institute isn't a school, but a joke on the Women's Institute in the UK. by J.K. Rowling on Twitter


Wizarding Education
BeauxbatonsCrestClearBg.png
Hogwartscrest.png
Ilvermorny Crest 4.png
DurmstrangCrest.png
The Eleven Schools
Beauxbatons · Castelobruxo · Durmstrang · Hogwarts · Ilvermorny · Koldovstoretz · Mahoutokoro · Uagadou
Specialised schools
Academy of Broom Flying · Charm School · Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages · Merge School of Under-Water Spellage · Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts
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