Entire Wizarding School

> 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

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A **wizarding school** (also called a **magical school**) was an educational institution which provided ***magic***al instruction to young witches and wizards.
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 were difficult to keep track of.
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.

## School locations

Map:Entire Wizarding SchoolsThe 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. 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. Wizards and witches in these countries generally chose to homeschool their children instead. 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.

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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, whereas Hogwarts only accepted students from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The school with the smallest number of students was Mahoutokoro, and the school with the most students was Uagadou.
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.

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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. 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. The quality of magical education on offer at these smaller, unregistered institutions was thus questionable. Africa was known to have been home to a number of smaller wizarding schools in addition to Uagadou. The book *An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe* covered publicly available information on various wizarding schools in Europe.

## Interaction between schools

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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.
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.
Castelobruxo in Brazil ***offered student exchange programme***s to pupils at wizarding schools in Europe. There was apparently also an international pen-friend programme in place for students of Castelobruxo and Hogwarts. 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 curse hat. Beauxbatons Academy of Magic also offered a 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***, ***The Naaszcademy of Magizoology*** and the ***Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts***.

## 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.
* 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 Canadian Muggle-born could attend ***Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry***, or a Nigerian Muggle-born could attend ***Uagadou***.)
	+ It is worth noting that the eleven 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, possibly including ***Koldovstoretz***, as most of Russia's population is in the European part of the country.
* 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

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## Notes and references

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `pottermoreschools`
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Template:WW
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Template:WW
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Template:WW
5. ↑ @naunihalpublic Uagadou takes students from all over Africa, but it is in Uganda. #IAgreePottermoreShouldSayThatWillChangeDescription by J.K. Rowling on Twitter.com
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 3 July 1999 interview in the *Telegraph*
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 8 July 2000 *South West News Service* interview
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Template:GOF
9. ↑ Template:GOF
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Template:GOF
11. ↑ Template:GOF
12. ↑ Template:GOF
13. ↑ Template:WBP
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Template:GOF
15. ↑ MinaLima Releases Map of the Wizarding World in Paris While J.K. Rowling and Globus Mundi Hint at Future 'Fantastic' Destinations!
16. ↑ Template:POA Template:See image
17. ↑ Template:PS - GBC version
18. ↑ Template:HPLE
19. ↑ "*Making the Magic Real*" presentation by Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, at LeakyCon 2013 (29 June, 2013) Template:See image
20. ↑ Template:WU - (SOS Task Force Training - Calamity Essentials II: The Naaszcademy of Magizoology)
21. ↑ 1997 interview in *The Herald* (Glasgow)
22. ↑ Template:COS tells us that Slytherin made the Chamber of Secrets over a thousand years before 1992, shortly before he left Hogwarts
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
24. ↑ J.K. Rowling teases Canadian, Australian Wizarding World schools' future reveal at SnitchSeeker