The French school system – a beginners guide

I’ve been living in France for more than 10 years now. And yet, I always frown when my friends start to talk about school. This happens above all when it’s time for “la rentrée”. “My daughter is going to CM2” – “And my kid just started CP” – “My boy is big now, he is in 3ème”. I mean, what?! If you are as lost as I used to be, I’ll try to explain the French school system to you the most simple way, by age.

La crèche

Basically, the “crèche” is not included in the school system. It is optional and there are not enough spots for all children.
Your baby can go to the crèche or day nursery from the age of 10 weeks. Yes, this is very early and the babies are still tiny but 10 weeks is the official duration of maternity leave in France.
Children can go to the crèche until the age of three. Most times, they will stay there until they start nursery school.

La maternelle

Age 3 to 6
Nursery school begins at the age of two and a half or three years. It is mandatory since 2019. It is structured in a quite educational way and children learn the basics of reading, writing and mathematics. A rating system is used to evaluate the progress children make. The kids have one teacher and one ATSEM (tearcher’s helper) dedicated to their class. If you want to know more, you can read my post on French nursery schools.

Ecole élémentaire or école primaire

Age 6 to 11
The primary or elementary school is the start to a “complicated” coding system: CP classe préparatoire or preparatory class (6 years old) is where children start learning to read, write and calculate. CE 1 and CE 2 are the classes élémentaires or elementary class (7 & 8 years old) and CM 1 and CM 2 are the classes moyennes or middle class (9 & 10 years old). In CE and CM children start to learn French, mathematics, geography, history and other subjects. The teacher is called “professeur”.

Collège

Age 11 to 14
The years at middle school are counted backwards like a countdown: sixième (6th), cinquième (5th), quatrième (4th) and troisième (3rd). The children finish the collège with a diploma that is called “brevet” or DNP (diplôme national du brevet). The class has one form teacher and one teacher per subject.

The exam of the brevet takes place at the same day and at the same time in the whole country. In a written exam French, mathematics, history and geography are tested. The pupil also needs to have a level of A2 in his secondary language and the average grade points of other subjects are added, too. The success or failure of this exam has no influence on the further course of study of the pupil. It doesn’t influence his or her admission to the Lycee.

Lycée

Age 14 to 17
In high school, the pupil chooses his orientation for his degree: L literature, S natural sciences or ES economic sciences. The countdown continues with la seconde (2nd), première (1st), terminale (final) and the baccalauréat or BAC, which is the final secondary-school examination. With the Bac, the pupil can start a higher education.

Lycée professionnel

This is a vocational preparation course where the pupil receives a baccalauréat professionnel after 3 years of preparation. The young adult is then capable of exercising the job he has learned. However, he or she can also choose to go to university and continue learning.

Interesting facts about the french school system

In France, school is mandatory for 13 years, meaning from 3 years until 16 years.

A school day often starts at 8.30 am and finishes at 5.30 pm. One school hour is 50 – 55 minutes.

About 80% of pupils go to a public school. The biggest difference between private and public schools is that private schools have a fee that needs to be paid by the parents. This leads to a split of social classes and some great teachers like to teach at a more priviledged school.

Homeschooling is allowed in France but severely supervised and not at all common.

Since the beginning of the French Republic, to ensure the secularism of the state, no religious education is given at school except through history lessons.

A school year is split in trimesters:
1st trimester: September until beginning of December
2nd trimester: December until beginning of March
3rd trimester: March until the end of June

And last but not least every six weeks our children get a two week vacation.

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