For the last two weeks ITV (The so called "light" channel) has broadcast a couple of fly on the wall documentaries following the education of a group of young wizards and witches with a specific focus on a pupil named Harry Potter.
by the end of the first documentary, serious doubts have come to light on the moralistic development of the young pupils in their inter-house award - an end of year contest which should be a great morale boost to engage even the most disinterested wizard.
Slytherin are the clear winners with the rule breaking of Gryffindor in last place. All of this is clearly stated by Principle Albous Dumbledor in front of senior management. He then happily destroys the positive feeling of all three of the other houses by willy nilly handing out extra points meaning 4th place Gryffindor become first place Gryffindor!!! All this after what I am sure would be the official academic board meeting for the House Cup. In one swoop Dumbledor destroys the positive attitude of three quarters of the school.
The second part of the documentary screened on ITV on 7.12.13 showed there to be a serious equality and diversity issue in Hogwarts with open bullying of "Mugbloods". The biggest shock once again comes from Dumbledor where he happily cancels exams to which the pupils celebrate!
Firstly the school is a facilitator for exam boards with set dates for completion of exams and clear rules of grading and issuing results. Secondly exams are a positive goal of any educational establishment and as such should not be treated as a negative throwaway piece of flim flamery!
One can only hope that Hogwarts is due an Ofsted inspection. I look forward to future episodes with interest.
The documentary is set to continue next Saturday on ITV at 2:30pm with Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
