English Boarding Schools

[easleyweasley at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 85000

I am a new member of the group, but have read the posts of the last few days 
with interest.

I would like to comment on JKR's conception of British boarding schools, and 
also on the various comments on House insignia and the like. I regret to say I 
have spent a looong time working in ENglish Public Schools [for transatlantic 
readers, these are in fact private schools, with fees of up to $30,000 per 
annum].

In addition, JKR sets her school in Scotland [or appears to - I can't think 
of any reference in canon that specifically states this]. Traditionally, 
Scottish education has been superior to English education [altho there are signs 
that even this is changing], and so there tend to be fewer boarding schools in 
Scotland. altho many of them are run on the same lines as their English 
counterparts.

To muddy the waters further, all schools do things differently. However, 
almost all have a common uniform for their pupils, with a differentiating item to 
mark which House the pupil is in. For boys, this is usually a tie in the House 
colours. To confuse matters further, there are often ties for specific 
achievements - e.g., sporting, cultural, academic - which then means you can't tell 
the House of a pupil!

English Public Schools usually take pupils from ages 13-18, and the pupils 
would attned a preparatory or 'prep' school first. This leads to to another 
possible hole in the JKR WW. The Hogwarts pupils have obviously not attended 
Muggle schools in the past, as most purebloods are quite ignorant of Muggles. 
However, if there were wizarding prep schools - and there can't be that many - then 
many Hogwarts pupils would be acquainted with each other before arrival at 
Hogwarts [eg Malfoy and Weasley]. So where do they go to school? And if they are 
home educated, it explains a lot about the role of Mrs Weasley.

Finally - where does Hogwarts get its money from? It obviously saves on 
domestic salaries [house elves!] but there would be quite a few other expenses. No 
mention is made of fees in letters to parents, or anywhere else. Does that 
imply funding from the MoM? And is there then a wizard income tax?

easleyweasley


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