- Jun 10
- 4 min read
Today, C'est la classe is talking about school in France and its organization.
General Information
Obligation :
The first thing to know is that school is compulsory from age 3 to 16 and public education is free from kindergarten to high school except for the purchase of school supplies.
The areas:
The school is divided into 3 zones depending on your school district, and this impacts the school calendar (start of term and holiday dates). While the All Saints' Day break (1 week in November) and the summer holidays (July and August) are the same for everyone, the February (2 weeks) and Spring (2 weeks in April) holidays are staggered to avoid overcrowding tourist areas.
Zone A: Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon, Poitiers
Zone B: Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Caen, Lille, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Nice, Orléans-Tours, Reims, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg
Zone C: Créteil, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse, Versailles.
The school schedule:
Students generally start school at 8:30 a.m. and finish at 4:30 p.m. Depending on the municipality, they may have school on Wednesday mornings. The rest of their time is managed by after-school programs or extracurricular activities (before/after school, on Wednesdays, during school holidays), depending on the city. These activities are fee-based, and the cost depends on the family's income as determined by the CAF (French family allowance fund).
For the canteen, meals are adapted (allergies, religion, etc.) if you request a PAI (Individualized Care Plan).
Preschools and primary schools are managed by municipalities, middle schools by departments, and high schools by the region.
Life in the classroom:
Generally, there are between 24 and 30 children per class with one teacher (who is accompanied by an assistant in kindergarten).
Students do not wear uniforms except in certain schools that are in testing phases.
Education is secular. Therefore, there is no religious instruction. Schools prohibit students and teachers from wearing religious symbols.
The different classes:
The nursery school
Registration takes place at the town hall. The documents generally required are: vaccination record, family record book, identity documents, proof of address less than 3 months old, etc.
Preschool lasts three years. It is made up of three classes: the youngest (petite section), the middle section (moyenne section), and finally the oldest (grande section). Sometimes classes may be mixed-age. Children start preschool in the year they turn three.
In these classes, children learn to live together in a group, to respect themselves and others, to follow instructions, and to work individually or in groups. They also develop the fine motor skills necessary to hold a pen and write lowercase letters. They learn the rhythm of syllables and the first words to read and write. These classes are important because they truly prepare children for first grade.
Elementary school:
It lasts 5 years. You enter at age 6.
It is made up of five grades: CP (Cours Préparatoire), which is THE grade for learning to read and write; CE1 (Cours Élémentaire); CE2; CM1; and CM2. At the end of these five years, children should be able to read, write, and do arithmetic, and know the four basic mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), as well as their multiplication tables. In French, they should master verb conjugation (present, past, imperfect, and future tenses), grammar (sentence structure, adjectives, etc.), and the basics of English.
The school:
It lasts 4 years. You enter it at 11 years old. It's a big step in a child's life.
It is composed of 4 classes: 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd. It concludes with the Brevet des collèges exam.
The organization is changing and from now on there is one teacher per subject taught.
The year is divided into 3 terms which end with the class council which draws up an assessment and where one may or may not receive a mention (encouragement, compliments, congratulations).
The start of the school year for 6th grade is generally later than for other grades. On that day, the teachers and school staff dedicate their attention to the new students to help them integrate easily. 6th grade is truly about learning independence, both in terms of organization (packing their bag, walking to school alone, checking their timetable) and in their learning (doing homework, starting to plan ahead). It's also about discovering new subjects like English, as well as delving deeper into others such as Life and Earth Sciences, Physics and Chemistry, Physical Education, History, Geography, Civics, etc.
In 4th grade, a second language is added, which can vary depending on the options offered by the school (German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, etc.).
The final year of middle school (3ème) is marked by the National Diploma exam. It consists of written papers in mathematics (2 hours), French (3 hours), history and geography (2 hours), and science (1 hour), as well as an oral presentation based on a work experience placement (15 minutes). This year also serves as a guidance year. Several options then become available: CAP and BEP vocational training programs (2 years) leading to professional qualifications, as well as technological, vocational, and technical tracks.
The brevet or DNB can be accompanied by a distinction depending on the results:
"fairly good" (minimum 12/20), "good" (minimum 14/20), "very good" (minimum 16/20), "very good and congratulations from the jury" (minimum 18/20).
The high school:
You enter at 15 years old and it lasts 3 years.
Here we will only talk about the general track (I will make another post later to explain the different tracks).
In second year you will find the same subjects as in third year but in more depth because they prepare you for the choice of options.
In the first year of high school, the focus is on the chosen elective subjects (2 or 3) and the French baccalaureate exam (oral and written) at the end of the year (usually at the end of June). Note that the other subjects are assessed through continuous assessment for the baccalaureate exam in the final year.
In your final year of high school, you only keep two optional subjects (which then have a very high weighting) and continue with the other subjects through continuous assessment. The goal is the baccalaureate exam (early June) and university application through Parcoursup in January. (I will make a separate post on this topic).
