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At Hogwarts, there are four houses: Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.

Do any of the other wizarding schools, like Durmstrang or Beauxbatons, sort their students into separate houses?

4 Answers 4

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There is no known canon evidence that any of the other wizarding schools have a house system like Hogwarts does. The house system in general is pretty endemic to the British, though, from what British friends have told me, whether it's boarding or day school (I believe the British call what we Americans refer to as "private" schools "public" schools -- hopefully any British user will correct me if I'm wrong.). So the house thing is specific to the UK, if I understand correctly. However, going back to canon, unless there is more information on Pottermore that I just haven't gotten to yet, there is just no indication that any of the other schools use the house system. Is it possible? Sure. Is it proven? No.

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    Yes, British terminology is that a state school is free and run by the government and a public school (or independent school) is a fee-paying school run by somebody else. The term "public" is because, in principal, they're open to any member of the public (at least, who can pass the entrance exam and afford the fees); there used to be a further category of private schools, which were, e.g., only open to children of employees of a particular factory. Some state schools have a house system; most independent day schools do and probably all independent boarding schools. May 26, 2014 at 10:57
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    For the record, state schools also occassionally have houses. For instance, my school has Forms (7 or so for a year I think) which is a collection of about 30 students who share about 30 minutes a day together, but do not neccessarily share individual lessons. A year or so ago, the school implemented a house system ON TOP of the forms. Needless to say it was probably to make it seem fancy and it was confusing as hell, but it's not unheard of for state schools to have houses :)
    – Mac Cooper
    May 26, 2014 at 11:10
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    When I was training as a teacher in the late 1990's having a house system was quite trendy as a way of improving discipline and pastoral care for children in a state school - most of the state schools in Wirral seemed to have them at that time. May 26, 2014 at 16:09
  • FWIW, houses, as in, the sports team you belong to in school, isn't specific to the UK. It is specific to the British education system though. Here in Malaysia we have them as well. And I'm sure the same can be said of India, Hong Kong and Pakistan. Though over here "houses" is a strictly sport thing. Not sure how it is in the UK. Though, having gone to (government/public) boarding school I can tell you that for most boarding school the "house" also associates you with the dormitory you sleep in.
    – slebetman
    May 27, 2014 at 7:58
  • Also, as to the terminology of "boarding" school.. it basically means a school you go to and sleep at.. like Hogwarts. Over here there are public/government-run boarding schools and private/pay-money boarding schools just as there are public day schools and private day schools.
    – slebetman
    May 27, 2014 at 8:00
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Yes, the American school of magic has houses.

In a new piece on Pottermore, JK Rowling revealed that Ilvermorny, the North American school of magic, was heavily influenced by Hogwarts and included the idea of four houses:

This idea caught Chadwick’s and Webster’s imaginations. The boys’ ideas of what a magical school ought to be like were based almost entirely on Hogwarts, so they insisted that it ought to have four houses.

The school draws other aspects of its house structure from Hogwarts:

  • Each of the houses are associated with a different animal, namely the Horned Serpent, the panther Wampus, the Thunderbird and the Pukwudgie.
  • There are inter-House competitions.
  • At the start of your first year, there’s a Sorting Ceremony for divvying up new students between the houses — carvings representing each of the four House animals react to each student in turn, coming to life if they want them for their house.

Lots more detail in the Pottermore article.

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The four houses of Hogwarts were named after the four founders of Hogwarts (not founders of Wizarding education or something global). So, it's safe to assume that houses of other schools had different names (probably bearing names of founders of theirs). It's also a possibility that other schools didn't have houses.

Note: The canon never mentioned houses of other schools. This is the best guess based answer I can think of.

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    It's not safe to assume that the other schools even had houses, which are not actually indispensable to an educational system.
    – Mike Scott
    May 26, 2014 at 5:47
  • @MikeScott Ha.. Ha.. Yes, it's possible. Adding to the answer. May 26, 2014 at 5:49
  • @MikeScott I would imagine that pretty much all British boarding schools have houses: originally, these would be the actual buildings the pupils lived in and not just a social arrangement. May 26, 2014 at 11:00
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    @DavidRicherby The other wizarding schools aren't British, so the practices of British boarding schools are not relevant here.
    – Mike Scott
    May 26, 2014 at 11:24
  • @MikeScott - Well, Harry Potter is a British series, so I personally think (and YMMV, of course) that the fact that the house system being a British tradition is relevant. I would imagine -- and, again, this is only my guess -- that JKR outlined Hogwarts according to British tradition, and while the other schools are not British, keeping in mind underlying British tradition when comparing Hogwarts to other wizarding schools is probably prudent. Totally anecdotal, but I was a student at an American boarding school for five years and we did not have a house system of any kind. :) May 26, 2014 at 12:54
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Possibly not because boarding houses are speciality of the United Kingdom and maybe some of its former colonies. It may function like that in Northern America, imitating all the Ivy League schools for muggles. But no; Hogwarts uses a distinctive "class" system that marks the whole British way of life. I really cannot see e.g. the French imitating the British, since they used to be mortal enemies in the past. Also, the Brits are very uptight, especially those in academic fields, while other european countries prefer more freedom when it comes to managing students. So NO, I don´t really think that other countries have schools with separated Houses like Hogwarts.

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