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Update: The plot thickens. We currently have exactly 2 answers, opposite each other.

I couldn't find the answer on fandom, but this has been asked on quora and reddit. I wasn't able to find anything sourced.

https://www.reddit.com/r/harrypotter/comments/4c5syq/is_hogwarts_the_only_school_in_the_uk/

https://www.quora.com/Is-Hogwarts-the-only-school-of-Witchcraft-and-Wizardry-in-Britain

https://www.reddit.com/r/harrypotter/comments/3kkpyk/are_there_other_wizarding_schools_in_the_uk/

FYI some context:

  1. I'm asking this as like a lemma for my other question: Why wasn't the Daily Prophet reporting the attacks? If Hogwarts was the only magical school in the UK, then I'd think the daily prophet would be interested a series of blood purist magical attacks in hogwarts.

  2. Also I'm wondering which schools invite(/accept) any given wizard/witch/sorcerer/sorceress/warlock. I could've sworn there was a question like this on reddit, quora or stackexchange, but I can't seem to find right now. (This isn't what I'm wondering. This is sort of.) If there are other magical schools in the UK, then I'd think they'd invite(/accept) Harry too. But maybe they just stayed out of Hogwarts' territory since Harry's parents attended Hogwarts. (Then I could generalise this to all magical schools on Earth like every single school sends a letter to every single 11 year old witch/wizard, regardless of region/territory and so for Harry they all stayed out of territory.) But anyway this is another question post. (btw, this is referred in (3) below.)

  3. Also, I'm wondering about transfers. No need for another question to see if this is a thing this time because of these: reddit, se, fandom, se again. What I'm wondering here (ie/aka the part that is for another question post) is the practicality of transferring. Hell if I would let any witch/wizard kid or younger sibling of mine continue in Hogwarts after there's been this sorcerer's/philosopher's stone attack, basilisk attack, werewolf/dementor attack or whatever even if it would be a hassle to go to Ilvermorny. Plus 2 of the biggest (UK, but in this scenario I'm a UK parent. Bloody hell!) dark wizards actually attended this school, so probably I would forbid my kid/younger sibling from attending this school in favour of other schools (assuming any letters were given i guess...see (2) above. or maybe the letters aren't automatic. maybe you have to actually apply unlike with harry to hogwarts). Preferably, Hogwarts has competitors in the UK. Or maybe the lack of safety in Hogwarts IMPLIES it hasn't any competitors in the UK. But anyway, again, this is another question post.

BCLC
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    @BCLC it's going to be hard to prove the negative, but it seem reasonable that it would have been mentioned already – AncientSwordRage Aug 04 '21 at 11:54
  • It's a dupe in the sense that an answer to this one would be immediately replicated to the more established question. The other is also wider and more useful. – Valorum Aug 04 '21 at 12:34
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    The other question is about just the eleven established magical schools. I understand this question about asking if there are any other magical schools in the UK, not just the big eleven. – ibid Aug 04 '21 at 12:58
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    Surely if there was another school in the UK it would be established/registered just as Hogwarts and the other schools are? – fez Aug 04 '21 at 13:00
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    @fez - Canon is that most of the small schools are unregistered. See the quote in my answer. – ibid Aug 04 '21 at 13:01
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    @AncientSwordRage - Does depend on the size. It's a safe conclusion that there are no other schools are comparable size/prestige to Hogwarts, but I don't think it's impossible for there to have been some of the small schools there. – ibid Aug 04 '21 at 13:02
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    The "opposite" answers seem entirely reconcilable if we simply assume that. Hogwarts is the only school in the UK, and has been for at least a few generations, but that the "smaller and less well-regulated institutions" exist in other countries, and may have existed in the UK as well, in the past. – Michael Borgwardt Aug 05 '21 at 06:01
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    In current real life "home schoolers" often get together to form groups where various families share education. They can have various levels of organization from 'none at all' to something that might be called a "smaller and less well regulated institution", while still being considered "home schooling" by Lupin. So both the 'conflicting' answers could be right. Hogwarts is the only official school, but some young wizards are "home taught" in various more or less organized ways. – DJClayworth Aug 05 '21 at 13:11
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    In the UK or in Britain or in the British Empire? – David Tonhofer Aug 05 '21 at 13:43
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    @DavidTonhofer UK. at least as i understand from this – BCLC Aug 05 '21 at 17:31
  • I don't think there are any other magical schools in UK. Fandom mentions that out of 11 wizarding schools, the Hogwarts school is only school located in UK (Scotland to be precise) and it only allows students from Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. – Nilay Ghosh Aug 07 '21 at 03:39
  • @NilayGhosh what's being discussed in some comments below is whether or not those 11 schools are the only the 11 schools – BCLC Aug 08 '21 at 16:40
  • @MichaelBorgwardt soooooo....there's only 1 like official registered school and then the rest are not really full school status? like not fully accredited? or maybe like university vs college ? – BCLC Aug 08 '21 at 16:43

4 Answers4

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I think it probably is.

In Deathly Hallows, Lupin says

"Attendance is now compulsory for every young witch and wizard,” he replied. “That was announced yesterday. It’s a change, because it was never obligatory before. Of course, nearly every witch and wizard in Britain has been educated at Hogwarts, but their parents had the right to teach them at home or send them abroad if they preferred.
Chapter 11 (The Bribe), Deathly Hallows

If there were another magical school in the UK he wouldn't have said this. He'd have said that parents previously had the option to send their children to another magical school in the UK.

The fact that "nearly every wizard and witch in Britain" has been educated there does make it sound like it's the only choice, other than sending them abroad or home-educating.

And logically, if there were more than one school, Voldemort's target of putting Death Eaters in as teachers wouldn't have been as easy if there were multiple schools he had to cover. I suppose he could have shut down smaller schools and made everybody go to Hogwarts, but again there's no indication of that.

My own speculation: the location of Hogwarts is also a very long way from a lot of the wizarding settlements (Devon, Cornwall, the West Country). I would think that if there had been other options in the south or middle of England, they would have drawn a lot of pupils away from Hogwarts. (Especially before the Hogwarts Express when people had to arrange their own travel.)

BCLC
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BeginTheBeguine
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    do you disagree with ibid? i guess there's only 1 like official registered school and then the rest are not really full school status. like not fully accredited or maybe like university vs college – BCLC Aug 08 '21 at 16:41
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Probably not

While none of the other named wizarding schools are in the UK, Rowling has said that there are countless smaller, less established, schools.

There are eleven long-established and prestigious wizarding schools worldwide, all of which are registered with the International Confederation of Wizards. Smaller and less well-regulated institutions have come and gone, are difficult to keep track of, and are rarely registered with the appropriate Ministry (in which case, I cannot vouch for the standard of education they might offer). Anyone wishing to know whether there is an approved magical school in their region should address an owl enquiry to the International Confederation of Wizards, Educational Office.
"Wizarding Schools" - Intro

The UK has a large magic population and it's quite likely that they've had other schools at some point or another. Rowling has never named any of them though.

ibid
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    Aside from magic schools for humans, what about magic schools for goblins? – Invisible Trihedron Aug 04 '21 at 13:59
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    I don't think it's implied anywhere that the population of wizards is any more concentrated in the UK than anywhere else. We just know more about them because they're the focus of the books. It's logical to assume they'd be roughly evenly distributed among the world's population, though some might have to emigrate to other places to find decent schools. We do know of at least 3 Hogwarts students that were possibly born outside of the UK (Cho Chang and the Patil sisters), though I'm not sure if that's ever confirmed; they are at least ethnically non-British. – Darrel Hoffman Aug 04 '21 at 17:06
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    @InvisibleTrihedron relevant? Do Goblins and Elves use different spells and charms than witches and wizards? – BCLC Aug 04 '21 at 20:09
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    That other schools have come and gone worldwide doesn't mean that UK ever had any other school, let alone has in the relevant time frame. – Zizy Archer Aug 05 '21 at 11:15
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    @ZizyArcher - Hence the word "probably". The quote isn't meant to suggest proof that a different school existed, but proof that other schools can exist. (And to primitively answer the anticipated question as to why no other schools are on the list of eleven.) – ibid Aug 05 '21 at 11:29
  • @DarrelHoffman Possibly Seamus Finnigan as well, assuming he's from Ireland and not Northern Ireland. – chepner Aug 06 '21 at 12:41
  • @chepner Maybe, though there's a lot of ethnically Irish people born in the UK, some going back many generations, and not just in Northern Ireland. I'd say that's less true for China and India. – Darrel Hoffman Aug 06 '21 at 13:47
  • @DarrelHoffman There are large multi-generational communities in the UK of people who are ethnically Indian (due to India being part of the Commonwealth) or Chinese (due to Hong Kong being leased to the UK under the New Territories lease, granting them Right of Abode in the UK, and multiple waves of mass migration when China gets especially shifty), so there's at least equal chance of being born in the UK – Chronocidal Aug 07 '21 at 12:53
  • ibid, so it's like university vs college? or like the other schools have not yet attained full accreditation status to be full schools or something? – BCLC Aug 08 '21 at 16:42
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    @BCLC - More like the latter I think. Eleven schools are prestigious long-established schools that have been around for hundred of years. Countless other schools pop up from time to time but haven't lasted long enough. – ibid Aug 08 '21 at 17:14
  • @Chronocidal I never said there weren't ethnic Indian and Chinese people in the UK, just that there's probably far fewer of them than there are Irish, just given the geographic proximity. – Darrel Hoffman Aug 09 '21 at 13:08
  • @DarrelHoffman However, comparing the numbers of Irish-ethnicity people to those of Indian or Chinese ethnicity is less relevant to the situation you raised than comparing the proportion of each resident in Britain who were born there, versus born in Ireland/India/China, which is what I was commenting on. (i.e. the chance of them being born in either location if you took a random sample of people of that ethnicity); their ethnicity is already a fixed/known quantity, it's their birthplace that remains in flux. "About equal chance" was "Patil sisters/Cho Chang born in Britain versus India/China" – Chronocidal Aug 09 '21 at 19:41
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The Middle Way
Based on likely population figures of the world's wizarding population, it seems most likely that Hogwarts is the only middle school for wizarding children (the 11 to 17 set), if not the only school in an absolute sense. (I've often wondered if there isn't some school of advanced wizardry somewhere in the UK, as I simply can't buy the fact that the wizarding world operates on a high school education, but I digress.)

Reading what JKR said, and especially in the setting of "the appropriate Ministry", I think the best we can conclude there is that, taking the whole of planet Earth, there are more than the eleven big schools. We can not state with any certainty that any of those "smaller less well regulated" schools are in the UK or not. Of course, we could get picky and say there's a school in Jersey, but Jersey isn't in the United Kingdom even though it's part of Great Britain even though geologically it's part of France. Another possibility would be a school in the Isle of Man, which also is in the British Isles, but not part of the UK and also not part of France.

Therefore, I suggest the middle way answer as the true answer, and that is:

We just don't know.

elemtilas
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You also have this quote from JKR herself hinting that all the wizards from UK should be sent to Hogwarts:

I sat down and I created 40 kids who enter Harry's year. [...] I never consciously thought, “That's it, that' s all the people in his year,” but that's kind of how it's worked out. Then I've been asked a few times how many people and because numbers are not my strong point, one part of my brain knew 40, and another part of my brain said, “Oh, about 600 sounds right.” Then people started working it out and saying, "Where are the other kids sleeping?" [...] But if you assume that all of the wizarding children are being sent to Hogwarts, then that's very few wizard-to-Muggle population, isn’t it? There will be the odd kid whose parents don't want them to go to Hogwarts, but 600 out of the whole of Britain is tiny.

Climbatize
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  • Of course, we also have JKR-approved canon (i.e. The Cursed Child) that indicates non-Hogwarts schooling is both permitted and used, such as in the example of Delphini's home-schooling. – Chronocidal Aug 07 '21 at 12:42
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    This is an interesting quote, but I don't see how it answers if Hogwarts is the only school in the UK – fez Aug 07 '21 at 12:49
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    @fez - It certainly speaks to a lack of worldbuilding from JKR. It's not an answer to the question, but it fits into the definition of a 'frame challenge', which is acceptable. – Valorum Aug 07 '21 at 13:08
  • @fez to me the important sentence here might be "But if you assume that all of the wizarding children are being sent to Hogwarts", admitting that Hogwarts is THE magical school of UK. But I might be wrong of course – Climbatize Aug 09 '21 at 02:35