The pupil numbers debate- intakes post 11?

[vheggie at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 23861

Whilst it's probably a bad idea for a newbie to jump headlong into 
this particular debate, I have trawled through as many of the FAQs & 
archived posts as I can, and haven't come across the following 
suggestions.

Apologies, therefore, if they are not new.

Is there any direct evidence for the assumption that children only 
enter Hogwarts at the age of 11?  I lived in an area of the UK where 
the 11+  ("eleven-plus") was still in practice; a test in the final 
year of primary school (ages 10 - 11) which streamed pupils into 
secondary schools.  There was a 'second intake', particularly of 
boys, [who seemed to blossom later than girls :)], at thirteen for 
many schools, and it wasn't unusual for schools to take in extra 
pupils at age 14-15 (for the two year run-up to the GCSE exams) and 
at 16-17, to enter into the sixth form.

Is it possible that the 'late-bloomers' are being catered for by 
multiple intakes (and possibly multiple sorting ceremonies)?

Personally, I'm not convinced about earlier intakes; but an expanded 
sixth-form is very common in parts of the UK.  Sixth form pupils 
often have their own common rooms, class rooms, teachers, and even 
whole areas of the school dedicated to them.

Could home-schooled children be offered the opportunity of post-16 
education at Hogwarts?  If there are other schools, is it possible 
that the 'cream' of these get the opportunity to transfer?  Perhaps 
students re-take exams?  Perhaps they even offer some form of adult-
learning?

None of these things are particularly unusual in UK secondary schools.

If Hogwarts is the only school, does it offer teacher-training?

A bulky sixthform could add several hundred 'extra' pupils to the 
register (at my school, the sixthform regularly increased in size by 
25 - 50%) - and may sometimes be separated from the lower school (at 
mealtimes, for sorting, and so on)* - but would give the impression 
of bustle in the hallways and crowds at the Quidditch matches.


my 2pence.

* I know Percy is around a lot, but could this be because he is a 
prefect?