Magical Schools

While Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry prides itself in being one of the finest magical education institutions in Europe, it cannot accommodate all magical children. There are many, many other schools of magic in the world, some just as fine as Hogwarts.

A General Overview

Wizarding Schools Worldmap

In general, it can be said that the number of countries that have their own magical school is minuscule compared to those that do not. This is because the wizarding populations of most countries choose the option of home schooling. Occasionally, too, the magical community in a given country is tiny or far-flung and correspondence courses have been found a more cost-effective means of educating the young witches and wizards.

The wizarding schools that do exist (also called a magical school) are educational institutions which provide magical instruction to young witches and wizards. Different schools in different continents serve the wizarding populations of different areas, countries, or sometimes even continents. For example, Hogwarts serves Britain and Ireland whilst Durmstrang Institute in Scandinavia accepts wizards and wizards from as far afield as Bulgaria.

There are eleven long-established and prestigious wizarding schools throughout the world, all of which were registered with the International Confederation of Wizards. Smaller and less well-regulated institutions are rarely registered with the appropriate Ministry and are difficult to keep track of.

The precise location of wizarding schools is a closely guarded secret. The schools fear not only Muggle persecution, for it is a sad fact that at various times in their long histories, all of these institutions have been buffeted by the effects of wizard wars, and of hostile attention from both the foreign and domestic magical communities (it is not only in Britain that the education of magical youth has been subject to Ministry interference or pressure). As a general rule, magical schools tend to be situated in landlocked, mountainous areas (although there are notable exceptions), as such regions are difficult for Muggles to access, and easier to defend from Dark wizards.

Europe

Primary Education

Blackhill Wood School of Magic

See Blackhill Wood School of Magic for the official article on this school

Located in England (Norwich). A minor school that accepts anyone of any magical blood, both witches and wizards. They wanted to provide a more standardised preliminary magical education for the village children before they began a more formal education elsewhere. Around 1840 a secondary education programme was added for students who for whatever reason were not accepted to Hogwarts and were unable to attend other magical schools in Europe, but the primary focus remains upon preliminary magical education for those aged 5-10.

Cavendish School for Girls

Located in England (London). This is a minor exclusive grammar school for girls ages 5-11. Located near the Tower, the focus of their teachings lie in arithmetic, grammar, reading, and proper socialization. It is well known for its challenging admissions process, as well as for producing a high number of Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students.

Secondary Education

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Located in Scotland (Highlands). A relatively smaller educational institute for both witches and wizards, which can partially be blamed on that that it only takes students from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland. Children with magical abilities in these countries are enrolled at birth, and acceptance is confirmed by owl post at age eleven. However, if the child in question is a Muggle-born, a professor from the school would come and inform the child's parents. The most characteristic feature of this school is that it was founded around 990 A.D. by two wizards and two witches: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They each represented an aspect of personality that they wanted to bring out in new students.

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

See Beauxbatons Academy of Magic for the official article on this school

Located in France (Pyrenees). A mixed school with a larger studentship than Hogwarts. Visitors speak of the breath-taking beauty of a chateau surrounded by formal gardens and lawns created out of the mountainous landscape by magic. Beauxbatons Academy has a preponderance of French students, though Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Luxembourgians and Belgians also attend in large numbers. Education at Beauxbatons Academy was said to be of a similar calibre of the education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Differences in the general curriculum can be found, as well as the notion that Beauxbatons students take their equivalent of Ordinary Wizarding Levels in their sixth year, rather than their fifth like their Hogwarts counterparts. Beauxbatons has always enjoyed a cordial relationship with Hogwarts.

Durmstrang Institute

See Durmstrang Institute for the official article on this school

Located in Northern-Scandinavia (Unplottable). (Cyrillic: Дурмстранг) Also a mixed school for both wizards and witches. However, the school is not entirely inclusive since it does not accept Muggleborn students, however that does not mean that all students share this blood-prejudice. For the rest of it, the school is willing to accept international students as far afield as Bulgaria. This school has one of the more darker reputations of all wizarding schools, which can partially be blamed on its heavy focus on dark arts and dueling in its curriculum.

Eisenstab Hexengymnasium

Exact location unknown. This is an secondary school which serves students from Germany & Luxembourg. It is well-known for its rather old-fashioned 'Prussian' atmosphere. This means that can be characterized as valuing militarism, bourgeois values as influenced by Lutheranism and Calvinism.

Ellebart Dark Academy

Located in Switzerland. This school is famous for being very selective in regards to admitting students and extremely secretive, the exact location of this school is unplottable. It was previously an all-girls school, though it has become co-educational the last hundred years. The focus of their curriculum lies in darker magics.

Gokstad Academy

See Gokstad Academy for the official article on this school

Located in Norway. The school continues to be the premiere school for the magical children of Scandinavia, and even special transfers from elsewhere. In that sense, it can be said that it is a very acceptive and inclusive school. The school has also developed an astonishing specialty in medicinal magic, as well as top herbological studies. Despite high marks nearly school-wide in these and most other subjects, many of the more hardnosed parents of the magical world have criticised Gokstad as "less disciplined" than other schools, though that opinion has changed somewhat in recent years.

Hapsburg School of the Magical Arts

Exact location unknown. This magical school is known to serve Eastern Germany and Eastern Europe. It is a mixed school, and inclusive in that it accepts students from all magical bloods.

Koldovstoretz School

Located in Russia. The largest Russian wizarding school.

Watsworth Academy for Young Witches and Wizards

Located somewhere in the Balkans. Small, mixed school which serves the Balkans.

Wizarding Academy of the Dramatic Arts

Located in the UK. A wizarding school that provides education for young witches and wizards who seek a theatrical or performance career.

Asia

Chinese Institute of Magic - China. An ancient and revered academic institution located in the depths of the Guilin Mountains. Its campus is large and intricate, starting at the turquoise rivers and winding their way up into the highest surrounding peaks. One cannot see the school in its entirety for the mountain mist obscures its full glory. Students don uniforms embellished with jewel tones that represent their respective houses and are only permitted birds and mammals capable of some form of flight — such as bats and colugos — as pets. The institution’s Chinese Mandarin name literally translates to The Misty Mountain Institution of Magic.

Mahoutokoro Gakuin (魔法所学院) - Minami Iwo Jima, Japan. The school boasts impressive academic prowess, as well as an outstanding reputation in Quidditch. Mahoutokoro takes students from the age of seven, though only those aged eleven and older are permitted to board. Day students are flown back and forth to their homes every day on the backs of giant storm petrels. Another fun fact about Mahoutokoto Gakuin is that cherry as a very rare wand wood is most highly prized by the wizarding students of the school of Mahoutokoro in Japan, where those who own cherry wands have special prestige.

Méiguī School of Magical Arts (魔法玫瑰学院) - China.

Tao School of Magic - Tibet.

North America

Salem Institute: - Massachusetts, USA. One of North America's biggest schools of magic.

Ilvermorny - Mount Greylock, Massachusetts, USA. One of North America's biggest schools of magic. It has existed since the seventeenth century, and has a reputation for being one of the least elite and most democratic wizarding schools. Students are sorted into one of four houses: Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Thunderbird, or Wampus.

Croatan Academy - North Carolina, USA. Known for its extensive medical studies programs.

Valle del Sol High School - California, USA. A very 'modern', pro-muggle school.

Bayou Annunciation - Louisiana, USA. A rambling old mansion hidden in the swamps, and with a reputation for voodoo and the dark arts.

The Raven Lodge - North Dakota, USA. A good curriculum in Native American magic.

Warren Metropolitan Youth Academy for the Gifted - New York, New York, USA. Pre-magical school with curriculum for ages 4-10.

Yellow Medicine School of Witchcraft - Illinois, USA

South America

Castelobruxo - Brazil. This school takes students from all over South America. It holds a reputation for its specialisations in both Herbology and Magizoology, and offers very popular exchange programmes for European students who wish to study the magical flora and fauna of South America.

Africa

Uagadou - Mountains of the Moon, Uganda. The largest of all the wizarding schools, Uagadou welcomes students from all over the African continent. Students are accepted into Uagadou via a Dream Messenger sent by the headteacher. The Dream Messenger will appear to the child as they sleep and will leave a token, usually an inscribed stone, which is found in the child’s hand on waking. The teaching here has a strong focus on Astronomy, Alchemy, and Self-Transfiguration. Though the wand has been adopted as a useful tool in recent years, Uagadou teaches many spells via pointing or other hand gestures. Thus, many students of Uagadou are particularly skilled in wandless magic.

Australia and Oceania

Manu Maori Academy of Magical Studies - New Zealand

Kahibah Magical Seminary - Australia

Wallaby School for Troubled Youngsters - Australia