Riddle and Grindelwald in 1945

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 109811

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:

Geoff:
> > All students will have turned 16 by the end of their Fifth Year -
> see my comment in message 109294.
> 
> Carol:
> Okay. I see what's confusing me about your post and maybe confusing
> you about mine. I was considering the end of the fifth year to be 
the
> end of classes before the summer holidays, not the beginning of the
> sixth year. So we agree that *all* students are 16 by the time that
> they begin their sixth year but some (like Harry) turn 16 over the
> summer. Most would begin their *fifth* year at 15 and end it at 16.
> That's the usual pattern, with only about 1/4 of the students 
turning
> 16 over the summer.
> 
> In Tom's case, we know that the basilisk was released in Tom's fifth
> year and we know that he was 16 when he began the diary in June of
> what must be that same school year (1942-43). So he would have had 
to
> be 15, not 16, by September 1, 1942 and probably turned 16 some time
> between that date and June 1943. I still say there's no need for him
> to have been one of the older students. He seems, in fact, to fit 
the
> usual pattern defined in my first paragraph.

Geoff:
My comment re students having turned 16 by the end of their 5th Year 
is tied into the 31st August cut-off date, which is also technically 
the end of the UK school year from the administrative and teacher 
employment point of view. When I started teaching, my contract ran 
from 1st September.

Re Tom's birthday, I agree that he doesn't have to be among the 
oldest in the year. I hadn't taken on board that the comment about 
being a 16 year old when he began to write the diary might have been 
well into the year. I was thinking in terms of the Chamber being 
opened early in the school year and mentally making the two events 
simultaneous.