Hermione's/Harry's birthday - the break off point for Hogwarts

[Heather Moore]

No: HPFGUIDX 29858

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Hollydaze" <hollydaze at b...> wrote:
> In California the cut off is December 
> > 1st. Everyone who turns 5 after that date must start school the 
> > following year.  I would imagine the rule is similar in England.
> 
> Yes but this is a British school, not an American one and by law, in 
> most schools (those that don't have nurserys attached) the cut off 
> date is that you must be 4 but September the 1st (the starting date 
> of Hogwarts you may notice - which is why I feel it has the same cut 
> off point) and therefore celebrate your 5th birthday in the first 
> year you are at school. 
> 
> This follows all the way up to the end of senior school, where you 
> start Junior school (year 3) when you are 7, and celebrate your 8th 
> birthday DURING that year (again with the break off being Aug 
> 31st/sep 1st) and then you go to Senior school (year 7 - Harry's 1st 
> year) at age 11, celebrating your 12th Birthday during that year. You 
> leave at 16 or 18 (you only actually leave school on the 31st of 
> August in your last year of school that is when you are taken off 
> your school register, so year 11, if you leave at 16, -which you 
> can't do at Hogwrats as far as we know,- and year 13 if you stay 
> on, ) This is what Harry actually does, it is just that his age is 
> one book behind the age he should be in that year. For example, when 
> he is 11 in book 1 he would actually still be in muggle year six and 
> not in a year for Hogwarts. When he celebrates his 12th birthday in 
> book two he would still be in Hogwarts year 1, Muggle year 7. When he 
> celebrates his 13th birthday in book 3, he would still be in Hogwarts 
> year 2 and Muggle year 8.
> (I hope someone cna perhaps convert these into American grades 
> becuase I do not know what they would be for the years I have 
> mentioned Sorry)
> 


 I've bored Holly to tears offboard with an in-depth comparison between British Years and American Grades and how our yank grades group together into different kinds of schools.

But I *will* respond more publicly on this specific point:

 Based on age, Americans would label the Trio's grades this way:

PS/SS First Year = 6th Grade
CoS Second Year = 7th Grade
PoA Third Year = 8th Grade
GoF Fourth Year = 9th Grade (Freshman)
OoP Fifth Year = 10th Grade (Sophomore)
GFW Sixth Year = 11th Grade (Junior)
??? Seventh Year = 12th Grade (Senior)

Hogwarts "maps out" to what we would experience as Middle and High School in America.  That actually makes things pretty clear-cut and easy for people who wish to write "American School" fanfic. 

 I'll also take a second to point out that cutoff dates in America are set by the individual states. We have similar dates across the board, but not necessarily identical ones. The only one that really *counts* in America is when you enter 1st Grade (or kindergarten, depending on how strict your kindergartens are); everything else pretty much flows from there until you hit the age where you are no longer automatically required by law to keep going to school.