School holidays / vacances scolaires and schedules

School starts « la rentrée des classes » at the beginning of September.
Children have a

- two weeks holiday for « la Toussaint » (end of October-beginning of November),

- two weeks around Christmas and New Year "vacances de Noël", "vacances de fin d'année",

- two weeks in February-march « vacances de février »,

- two week in March-April « vacances de Pâques » or « vacances de printemps »,

- school ends beginning of July "vacances d'été" "grandes vacances".

What is a « zone » ?

France has been divided into 3 zones so there's not everybody on the roads leaving the same day to go on holiday... (remember this the day you will be stuck in a huge traffic jam...).

Depending on your zone, your child might have different holiday dates from children in a different region.

How can I find my « zone » ?

Usually you get this information from the school at the beginning of the year, but if you don't know, go to :

http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid184/calendrier.html?dept=0&annee=3

There's a map of France, click on your region and you'll discover when your children will be on holidays.

School schedule

Usually, children at « école maternelle » and « école élémentaire » don't go to school on wednesday.

Schedule :
- 8:30-11:30,

- lunch

- back to school : 13:30 -16:30

If you want or need, your child can stay one more hour 16:30-17:30 in « études », « études dirigées », « aide aux devoirs ». It's not a class but it's still at school. It's a time dedicated to the homeword and most of the time children are looked after by students.

For lunch, you can take your kid back home (in this case he is « externe ») or he can go to the « cantine » (he stays at school for lunch), this is « demi-pension ». If you want your child to eat at "la cantine", you will have to provide your "quotient familial".

If your children are « au collège » they study between 25-28 hours a week. And « au lycée » 30-40.

Be careful, in France you must know your child's « emploi du temps » his time schedule because « au collège » and « au lycée » it's very flexible. Some days he might start at 8 and finish at 5 and some other days start at 10 and finish at 4 or 6...

Back to school / école