Hogwarts in St. John's: Local school gets magical transformation

St. Bonaventure's College held its annual Harry Potter Day on Friday, and Grade 3 students got the full magical experience.

Harry Potter Day an annual tradition at St. Bonaventure's College

Laura Howells CBC News Posted: Jun 10, 2016 4:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 10, 2016

Grade 3 students at St. Bonaventure's College started their journey to Harry Potter Day with a ride on this homemade Hogwarts Express. (Laura Howells/CBC)

St. Bonaventure's College held its annual Harry Potter Day on Friday, and Grade 3students got the full magical experience.

Like any school year in the wizarding world, students began by boarding the Hogwarts Express.

Two fathers at St. Bonaventure's College school designed and built the Hogwarts Express last year. (Laura Howells/CBC)

After the train to school, students gathered in the Great Hall to sing the school songyes, of course there were floating candles!

You can't do magic without a wand, so every student got outfitted at Ollivander's Shop.

Andrew Smith, a father at the school, built this replica of Ollivander's Wand Shop. (Laura Howells/CBC)

Inside the shop students tried out a few wands before finding The One.

You don't choose the wand...the wand chooses you... @StBonaventures pic.twitter.com/KGsdkVhWbA
—@LauraHowellsNL

Getting your first wand can make a witch or wizard hungry, so afterwards everyone stopped by the Honeydukes sweets shop.

Colleen Stone, a mother who volunteers atthe school, spent months constructing the legendary Hogsmeadestore. Treacle tarts, chocolate wands, butter beer, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans she hadthem all.

Honeydukes has all the magical sweets found in the Harry Potter series...including butter beer. (Laura Howells/CBC)

But life at Hogwarts isn't all songs and sweets. Students also hadto take important classes, such as flying lessons. This year, parents constructed a zipline so students could ride their broom down the field.

Flying lessons are very important. pic.twitter.com/fFKsqrYJse
—@LauraHowellsNL

Potions class is also mandatory. These students learned the fine art of brewing a good Polyjuice.

Students paid close attention to their potions class in the chemistry lab. (Laura Howells/CBC)

And of course, no Harry Potter Day would be complete without some excellent costumes.

This group of sly Slytherins just finished a transfiguration lesson. (Laura Howells/CBC)

Dobby the house elf got to hang out with the students during his day at Hogwarts. (Laura Howells/CBC)

Students were guaranteeda dayof fun...even if they went into the Enchanted Forest.

This might be the one time students are allowed to go into the Enchanted Forest. (Laura Howells/CBC)

A 15-year tradition

Harry Potter Day has beenan annual tradition for theGrade 3s at this school for the past 15 years.

It started as a day of board games and movies, but every yearit's grown into a bigger and bigger celebration of thewizardingworld.

Grade Three teacher Jaline Rowsell (dressed as Fawkes the Phoenix) has been organizing Harry Potter day with her class for the past 15 years. (Laura Howells/CBC)

"It's just evolved into something more spectacular than I could ever imagine," said teacherJalineRowsell, who reads the book to her students every year.

This year,Rowselland parent volunteers started planning for the event in February.

Heather Carroll gives her best Bellatrix Lestrange snarl for Harry Potter Day. (Laura Howells/CBC)

Heather Carroll (pictured as BellatrixLestrange) was a student at the first Harry Potter day in 2002. Now she's a teacher at St. Bonaventure's College, andloving the event more than ever.

As for the students' experience?

"It was really, really fun," confirms Grade 3 student Isobel Acevedo,

"It was really, really cool."

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