.Hogwarts School Policy.
School Terms
Hogwarts Portus has four school terms: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Each term will last approximately 11 weeks. During the school year, Hogwarts will be open to all sorted students. Diagon Alley will be closed.
Temporary School Schedule for 2010:
| Term | Beginning | End |
| Term I | July 12 | Sept 3 |
| BREAK | Sept 3 | Sept 5 |
| Term II | Sept 5 | Oct 29 |
| BREAK | Oct 29 | Oct 31 |
| Term III | Nov 1 | Dec 18 |
| Winter Break | Dec 19 | Jan 2 |
Term Breaks
There are four term breaks. They are as follows:
Christmas/Winter break -- 2 weeks
Spring Break -- 2 week
Summer break -- 2 weeks
Fall break -- 2 weeks
During the term breaks, Hogwarts will be closed and Diagon Alley will be open.
Once You've Been Sorted...
Once you've been sorted, Hogwarts will be open to you. YAY! What can you do now? Well, if you look over the board, you should be able to find your common room near its floor:
Gryffindor Common Room in the Seventh Floor
Hufflepuf Common Room in the Kitchens
Ravenclaw Common Room in the Fifth Floor
Slytherin Common Room in the Dungeons
Inside your common room, you should find a welcome thread. Go ahead and introduce yourself! There will be some chatting threads, games, and stuff. Also, you will find your dorm. As a first year student, you will have access to the First Year Dorm. That is for you and your fellow first year classmates to create topics and post as you like. Once you graduate to second year, you will have access to the Second Year Dorm and so on with each year.
Classes
As a student, you have a choice of what classes to take. You do not have to take any classes or you can choose to take all of them. However, your choice may affect your graduation to the next year, so take a look at the graduation requirements before you make a decision on classes.
For first and second years, only Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration are available.
At third year, you can also choose from Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle Studies.
At the beginning of each term, you must sign up for your classes no matter what year you are in. Classes will be in the same location each time, but the class level will depend on your year.
Example: First years can join Astronomy I, Second Years can join Astronomy II
Sixth Years and Seventh Years can only take classes that they have passed an O.W.L. in. If you did not pass or take an O.W.L., but you sign up for a class, you will not be given credit for it towards graduation and the teacher may decide to remove you from the class.
We will never assume you are taking a class the next term, so be sure to remember to sign up!
If you failed a class once, do not despair. You may continue on to the next class (if you failed Astronomy I, you my still continue to Astronomy II), but we expect you to do better this time. If you fail the class again, you will not be able to sign-up for this class again at Hogwarts. To do so would waste our time and your time.
House Points
Each term, houses will be competing for the house cup. Students can earn house points by attending classes, turning in homework, referring new members, winning contests, etc. At the end of the term, the points will be added up and the house cup awarded to the winning house. You can see how your house is doing by visiting the Hour Glass thread in The Great Hall.
Prefects & Head Boy/Girl
In your fifth year, the Heads of Houses will be choosing Prefects. If you are interested in becoming a Prefect and you are in your FOURTH year, you are eligible to apply. Heads of Houses will post an application in the common rooms and you are to pm the application back to them. At the beginning of your fifth year, the Heads of Houses will announce the new Prefects. Two prefects will be picked from every house (regardless of being a male or female).
If you are a Prefect in your SIXTH year and interested in becoming Head Boy/Girl for your Seventh year, the headmistress will post an application in the Prefects' Bathroom where all who are eligible may fill out the application and pm it back to her.
To become Prefect and/or Head Boy/Girl, we are looking for students who are active, maintain good marks in their classes, and are generally helpful to all students, new and old. Follow these tips and you will be noticed.
Graduation
At the end of each term, students are eligible for graduation. During the break before the next term, the staff will check each student to make sure they have met the graduation requirements. If the student has, we will move them on to the next year. If a student hasn't, they will have to repeat the year they are in.
First Year to Second Year
-Have at least 25 posts
-Passed two classes with "A" or above
Second Year to Third Year
-Have at least 50 posts
-Passed two classes with "A" or above
Third Year to Fourth Year
-Have at least 100 posts
-Have a pet
-Passed two classes with "A" or above
Fourth Year to Fifth Year
-Have at least 150 posts
-Passed two classes with "A" or above
Fifth Year to Sixth Year
-Have at least 200 posts
-Passed two classes with "A" or above
-Passed two O.W.L.'s with "A" or above
Sixth Year to Seventh Year
-Have at least 250 posts
-Passed two classes with "A" or above
Graduate Seventh Year
-Have at least 350 posts
-Passed two classes with "A" or above
-Passed two N.E.W.T.'s with "A" or above
O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s
During your Fifth Year, you will be eligible to take the O.W.L.'s. You may only take the O.W.L.' s in classes that you have signed up for and passed during Years 1-5. If you passed Herbology in Year 3, but did not take it any other year, you can still take the Herbology O.W.L. However, since O.W.L.'s are based on all 5 years of classes, you may not do as well. Remember: you can only take classes your Sixth and Seventh years in subjects that you have an O.W.L. in.
During your Seventh Year, you will be eligible to take the N.E.W.T.'s. You may only take N.E.W.T.'s in subjects that you have taken during your Sixth and Seventh Years. Your N.E.W.T.'s will affect your career choices as an Adult when you graduate.
How to take your O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s: during the last week of your Fifth/Seventh Year term, you will sign-up for your test in your class and also pick a day that works best for you. You have 24 hours to complete the test and turn it back in to the Headmistress. Grades will be returned to you at the beginning of your next term.
RPG Detentions
Heads of Houses and Teachers may hand out detentions at any time. These are not disciplinary detentions, but are for fun and to add to the Hogwarts Experience. The staff member giving you the detention will refer you to a location so serve your detention and give you a set of instructions. Example: Professor Williams may post saying "Detention! Location: Forbidden Forest, Post 15 times with the Professor to try to find a hurt unicorn."
