What should I call each year? (school classes)

[Mythical Tiger]

Ok, awhile ago I asked if one of my ideas in my story had anything to do with Harry Potter. I fixed it and now I have another problem. A lot of people pointed out that first years sounded a lot like Harry Potter. Theres 5 years in the school and I have no idea what I should call each one. I mean, J.K. Rowling wouldn't freak out just because I named each year the way she did. Would she? I'm sure she's not the only one............ But still any suggestions, opinions, or ideas will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!


~Sam

[Lisa Cox]

I'm confused. Are you asking if you can call your years 'first year', 'second year', etc? Because that's not exclusive to Harry Potter. That's almost every school in England.

Or were you asking something else?

[MrWrite]

Pretty much what lisamarie said. JK didn't event the 1st year 2nd year stuff. That's been around for many years.

[Parametric]

You could give your years names/titles that aren't directly based on numerals, similar to the (totally weird and unintuitive) American system of having a junior year, a senior year, freshman, sophomore, etc, which I think was invented solely to puzzle foreigners.

[Horserider]

Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior :) and I agree. That system wasn't invented by Rowling, but you could invent your own system.

[Parametric]

Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior :) and I agree. That system wasn't invented by Rowling, but you could invent your own system.

Wait, junior comes after a bunch of other stuff?

American schools, you make no sense. :tongue

[Matera the Mad]

Use elements. Well-rounded students have a little of all, no one should be all one. So -- probably Earth for the first, then Water, Air, Fire, and finally Ether. I can just see snotty Ethereals bullying the Earthies :roll:

BTW, you shouldn't assume that everyone here knows what you're talking about when you talk about your own work.

[bagels]

JK Rowling definitely did not invent the first year terminology. In fact, my alma mater now refers to freshmen as first years for various P.C. reasons that still hit me as ridiculous.

If that's the only similarity, I wouldn't worry about it. I think that creating different terms adds more things for your readers to know, and why waste stuff they need to memorize on something so minor?

[mlazzer]

I wasn't aware Rowling gave the years specific names other than "first year" and "seventh year", did I miss it?

[john barnes on toast]

I really don't see how the notion of naming school years with ordinal numbers (1,2,3) could be considered JKR's intellectual property.

It's just the way it's done in England.

[girlyswot]

Since no one seems to have pointed it out yet, JKR's system is old-fashioned (and thus appropriate for both boarding schools and the wizarding world). The standard in England at the moment is for a system that begins aged 5 in Year 1, and continues up to Year 13 for 18 year olds. You could use that and no one would bat an eyelid.

[Lisa Cox]

Since no one seems to have pointed it out yet, JKR's system is old-fashioned (and thus appropriate for both boarding schools and the wizarding world). The standard in England at the moment is for a system that begins aged 5 in Year 1, and continues up to Year 13 for 18 year olds. You could use that and no one would bat an eyelid.

While that is true, teenagers in British secondary schools still refer to the first years, second years, etc -- even thought it's technically Year 7, Year 8, etc. If the characters are going to a magic school starting from age 11 or thereabouts, I would be more inclined to go with first/second/third years rather than year 7/8/9, etc., because it's not a common transition from primary to secondary school. It's a whole new institution. Just IMO.

[Polenth]

While that is true, teenagers in British secondary schools still refer to the first years, second years, etc -- even thought it's technically Year 7, Year 8, etc.

That probably depends on where you live. Around here, I mostly hear the new system being used (with some mixing in of the older terms). This fits with my school experience, which was during the changeover... we started out using the old system more, but slowly moved to the new.

The exception is sixth form, which people still call sixth form.

[backslashbaby]

Is this where I get to bring up that Oxford has the coolest names for its semesters? Well, you gotta name the semesters cool things too, eh?

I can never do this enough :D :

Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity terms. There. I feel better ;)

But seriously, it might be fun to name yours. I would :)

[maestrowork]

My school called them Form 1, Form 2... through Form 5 (then Form 6 and 7 are post-graduation, college prep).

[C.bronco]

In my high school:
Freshman: 3rd Form
Sophomore: 4th Form
Junior: 5th Form
Senior and PG's: 6th Form
and then high school graduation

[Elidibus]

Primary
Secondary
Tertiary.

Just some things I thought of as I was reading. Or, do it like they do schools in the states. Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior. And if you have more grads after that. Do it again. Like junior high and high school :-)