I waited too long to post...
A Hogwarts RP wouldn't be the most beneficial choice of setting for the type of RP being currently planned. Harry Potter is a series you rather love or hate and you cannot count on the role-players here, especially those who need help, to participate in something they hate or love so much that they can't take it seriously.
As stated before, an original setting RP gives role-players who are participating, some grounds and leverage as to what the plot is about and how it evolves. However, with the RP under the incluence of role-players who are there to learn and have fun, this could easily corrupt the plot without proper moderation, thus increasing the pressure for modding throughout the RP. Whether this is a good thing or not, is ultimately up to the people who are participating.
The alternative would be a Pokemon RP, since almost (~all) members who joined this forum have had some influence with the game, show, or manga. This knowledge alone provides the background for most role-players to use in RP's, but also sets boundaries that have already been established by the people who created the franchise. However, with the forum being Pokemon-orientated, for the few role-players left on the forum, another Pokemon related RP may not spark a lot of interest. But again, this is ultimately up to the people setting it up and those participating.
Personally, I would prefer a Pokemon RP, as it was the main influence for me joining this forum, but again, that's just personal preference.
And sorry about going off track, most of the previous posters had already gotten into the stage of planning the actual RP, while I'm still discussing role-playing ethics, but nevertheless, I have submitted my opinion, and I hope in some way, whether it is big or small, that it helped.
Now, onto planning...
A school-type RP would definitely be most beneficial and efficient for educating role-players, as well as being enjoyable for those who are not so preoccupied.
No definite plot should be set in stone either, as Jyukai has said, simply because they will distract role-players during their classes and I don't think giving them detention will help their motivation to learn, not in this sense anyway. Deriving from that, I might propose some sort of challenge within each class for all those who are participating. It would allow the role-players who are learning, something to do that's fun and exciting while serving the purpose of the RP, which is to improve general RP-ing, if you have forgotten.
Also, in concerns to the size of this RP, people will be more inclined to join if they have some sort of familiarity with the people participating or the plot (or lack of one) that is being established. However, people will lose interest if there is not enough excitement or if throughout the course of the RP, it becomes too familiar with what they are accustomed to. This is a problem with role-players who sign up for every new RP that hits the threads.
So, in order to serve the greater mass, maybe multiple RP threads could be established to moderate the amount of people to each RP. So, a single RP could focus on one school with 2-5 classes while another thread could be centred around a second school of similar criteria. You could also restrict a single RP to just one class that has multiple teachers who teach different subjects, just like high school and its multiple periods. This could cover any array of topics that are lacking or needed in the role-players participating.
Unfortunately, this all dwindles down to the dedication of the people (once again) participating and moderating the RP's, and with PC's impressive record of completed RP's, this goal could be well unobtainable.
That was a little too depressing for me. Please, someone tell me that last half-sentence is false.
To sum up, I have a lot of other ideas stored from the amount of time I spent reading through this thread, but I thought this post might suffice in feeding the hungry minds of active role-players.
