The advantage of the Harry Potter series being set in a school is that Harry is learning magic along with the reader, so the reader gets to know the limits of magic in this universe, especially the limits of the protagonist's magical skills.
In any fictional universe where the characters have access to magic (or extremely advanced technology), it needs to have limits. Cinderalla has to be home at midnight. The Starship Enterprise can't beam people up when its shields are up. You can't apparate or disapparate at Hogwarts. If the magic doesn't have limits, everyone is omnipotent, and then there's no plot potential at all.
Since Harry came into school with no magical knowledge, we get to watch him learn magic. JK Rowling is kind enough to show us every lesson that is germane to the plot, so we know more or less exactly how much relevant magic Harry knows. It makes for much better literature when the reader goes into plot climax knowing the protagonist's limitations, rather than having no idea what is and is not possible, and I don't know if it would be feasible to do this if we had first met Harry as a full-grown wizard.
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