Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a fictional school for teaching magic and sorcery. It is the main setting in JK Rowling’s novels on Harry Potter. Hogwarts School, a co-educational institution, develops the magical abilities in the children who have aptitude for magical studies and. It is a boarding school and provides education up to secondary level.

The age for admission to the school is between 11 to 18 years. The school is managed and run by a headmaster. He is assisted by a deputy headmaster. He is answerable to a board of governors comprised of twelve members.

Students are required to procure their own textbooks, dresses and other study material which is normally available from the shops in Diagon Alley, a secret street near Charing Cross in London.

Those students, who cannot afford to buy, may be offered some financial help. Tom Riddle, a young orphan who could not afford to buy the study material received the financial aid.

There is a magical quill at Hogwarts which can detect the date of birth of the each magical child. Professor McGonagall checks this book and issues letters to the potential magical children who become 11 years old by 31 August each year. The offer of admission may be accepted or declined latest by 31 July. The school year begins on 1st September.

Letters bearing the offer of admission to the potential wizards and witches who were born in Muggle were hand delivered in person by the wizards. The visiting faculty of wizards explains to the parents of the children about the existence of a magical society.

Each student is permitted to bring an owl, a toad or a cat to keep as pet during his stay at the school. Many students prefer to bring owls, as they are good at delivering the messages by post. In exceptional cases, some other pets may also be allowed. For example, a student named Ron was allowed to bring his rat Scabbers.

The means of transport to school is Hogwarts Express, though the students are permitted to use other means of transport such as flying cars as was done by Harry and Ron in their second year. Other means of transport that some of the students use includes broomsticks, thestrals or winged horse like flying creatures and knight busses.

The Hogwart Express is available from King’s Cross Station in London from platform No. 9¾. The students can reach the platform by crossing the barrier between the platforms 9 and 10. The train starts at 11.00 am and reaches Hogsmeade Station after the night fall. The first year students are escorted by the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds or any other teacher to small boats waiting for them in the lake. The boats transport them magically to a landing stage near the castle of Hogwarts. From here the students are expected to walk up a path that leads to the front entrance. The older students can use carriages drawn by the Thestrals which are visible only to those who have witnessed death.

The fresh entrants to the school have to perform a ceremony called Sorting. All the students at Hogwarts are divided into four houses, namely Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The names of the housemasters are: Minerva McGonagall for Gryffindor, Pomona Sprout for Hufflepuff, Filius Flitwick for Ravenclaw, and Severus Snape for Slytherin.

There are also House ghosts. They are Nearly Headless Nick for Gryffindor, the Fat Friar for Hufflepuff, the Grey Lady for Ravenclaw and the Bloody Baron for Slytherin.

As Hogwarts is a school of magic, students are not taught ordinary subjects such as Mathematic and English. The subjects taught at the school are: Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic, Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.

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