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

A **wizarding school** (also called a **magical school**) was an educational institution which provided magical 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

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. 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.

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.

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

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 programmes*** 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 ***cursed*** 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

* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 @naunihalpublic Uagadou takes students from all over Africa, but it is in Uganda. #IAgreePottermoreShouldSayThatWillChangeDescription by J. K. Rowling on Twitter.com
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 3 July 1999 interview in the *Telegraph*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 8 July 2000 *South West News Service* interview
4. ↑ MinaLima Releases Map of the Wizarding World in Paris While J.K. Rowling and Globus Mundi Hint at Future 'Fantastic' Destinations!
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The ***Triwizard Tournament*** was founded in the 1290s, according to *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire*, implying Hogwarts, ***Beauxbatons*** and ***Durmstrang*** all existed.
6. ↑ Report on Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre reading
7. ↑ 1997 interview in *The Herald* (Glasgow)
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 9 (*Not expelled... today*) tells us that Slytherin made the Chamber of Secrets over a thousand years before 1992, shortly before he left Hogwarts
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Pottermore* - News: "Pottermore reveals that Ilvermorny is the North American wizarding school"
10. ↑ *Pottermore* - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "History of Magic in North America: Seventeenth Century and Beyond"
11. ↑ *Pottermore* facts from the 2014 UK editions of the ***Harry Potter* books** (transcript and link to photographs here)
12. ↑ .@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
13. ↑ J.K. Rowling teases Canadian, Australian Wizarding World schools' future reveal at SnitchSeeker