[HPforGrownups] British schoolsystem

[Tandy, Heidi]

No: HPFGUIDX 28876

Sara gave a terrific quick- explanation of the UK school system, then said 
> I see no reason why Hogwarts shouldn't follow this, seeing how JKR is 
> British, the books were published originally for British 
> schoolchildren, so 
> it makes sense that they'd follow the UK rules. 

But, IMHO, it doesn't make sense for them to follow UK rules, since the
Hogwarts system predates british school systems by centuries, and it seems
just as likely that they follow whatever archaic rules they always have.
However, because of Angelina's birthday and Hermione's, it seems like the
cutoff, if not September 1, has to be somewhere between September 19,
Hermione's birthday, and Angelina's October birthday - IMHO, the fall
equinox would be just as reasonable a cutoff date as August 31 or September
1 would be. 

I note (because this argument has come up before in relation to cutoff dates
and Hermione) that people do *not* receive their Hogwarts letter *on* their
11th birthday; Harry is set to get his at least 5, possibly 6, days before
(not having my book handy, I am not perfectly sure which it is).