THE FRENCH SCHOOL SYSTEM

School education is obligatory

for boys and girlsfrom 6 to 16 years

old

From 2 to 6 years old

PRE-ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

L’ÉCOLE MATERNELLE

During pre-elementary school children learn to…

*live together and respect social rules*use language to communicate efficiently*recognize letters and numbers to prepare for elementary school

*through adapted activities (games, songs, reading, drawing)

Pre elementary school lasts 3 or 4 years

1st year: Toute petite section age: 2 to 3 )

2nd year: Petite sectionage 3 to 4

3rd year: Moyenne sectionage 4 to 5

4th year: Grande sectionage 5 to 6

Pre-elementary school is not compulsory.

-Only 28% of children from 2 to 3 years old attend the first year (and it doesn’t exist in every school)

- but nearly 100% of children from 3 to 6 attend the last three years.

L’ÉCOLE ÉLÉMENTAIRE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

5 YEARS from 6 to 11 years old

• 1st year: Cours Préparatoire (CP) 6-7

• 2nd year: Cours Elementaire 1 (CE1) 7-8

• 3rd year: Cours Elementaire 2 (CE2) 8-9

• 4th Year: Cours Moyen 1 (CM1) 9-10

• 5th Year: Cours Moyen 2 (CM2) 10-11

DURING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

• School becomes compulsory

• Children learn mainly how to read, write

and count properly

• They also do arts, music and sports

• They also discover new subjects: Sciences,

History and Geography…

SECONDARY SCHOOL=COLLEGE

4 YEARS at the SECONDARY SCHOOL

•6ème (11 to 12 years old)

•5ème (12 to 13)

•4ème (13 to 14)

•3ème (14 to 15)

DURING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

• Pupils now have one teacher for each subject

• They learn French, Maths, History and Geography, two

foreign languages, IT, Music, Art, Sport, Biology,

Physics• They is a head teacher for each class.• They also prepare their future orientation, as the end

of Elementary School is the end of compulsory education

• During the last year (3ème), they have to spend three to five days as a trainee in a firm and write a report about it.

LE BREVET• At the end of elementary school, Pupils sit for

their first national exam: the « diplôme national du brevet »

• They have exams in French, Maths, History and Geography, Civics and History of the Arts.

• 84.5% of the pupils succeed with this exam.• It is not compulsory to continue to Higher

elementary school.

HIGHER SECONDARY LE LYCÉE

After « collège », education is no longer compulsory. So pupils have two choices:

1/ Vocational studies (for 2 or 3 years) - at school

- half at school, half at work as a trainee

2/ General studies (for 3 years)-first year is general-2nd and 3rd year are specialized in science, economics or litterature.

At 18, after three years in a general or vocational school school, pupils sit for the « Bacalaureat »

• Bacalaureat is obligatory to go to university• The subjects are different according to your choice of section (science, litterature, economics…)• 87% of the pupils sitting for the bacalaureat succeed.• Only 73% of a year group pass this exam.

LE BACALAUREAT

ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR

Pupils who passed the Bacalaureat have now access to universities, vocational schools …

TO SUM IT UP Ecole maternelle (pre-elementary school) 2 to 6 years old 4 years Ecole élémentaire (elementary school)

6 to 11 years old 5 years Collège (secondary school) 11 to 15 years old 4 years

BREVET DES COLLÈGES Lycée ( Higher secondary school) 15 to 18 years old 3 years BACCALAURÉATEnseignement Supérieur