Education in France

The French educational system is divided into three different stages:
primary, secondary and higher education.
At the primary and secondary levels, the curriculum is the same for all French students in any given grade.
Many parents start sending their children around age 3 to kindergarten , and Primary school is for pupils aged 6 to 10.
The names of the grades seem complicated and illogical, don't they??

Maternelle (Kindergarten)
Age	Grade	Abbreviation
3 -> 4	Petite section	PS
4 -> 5	Moyenne section	MS
5 -> 6	Grande section	GS
École élémentaire (Primary school)
Age	Grade	Abbreviation
6 -> 7	Cours préparatoire	CP
7 -> 8	Cours élémentaire première année	CE1
8 -> 9	Cours élémentaire deuxième année	CE2
9 -> 10	Cours moyen première année	CM1
10 -> 11	Cours moyen deuxième année	CM2

French secondary education is divided into two schools:

• the collège for the first four years directly following primary school;
  
• the lycée for the next three years.
  

The Brevet des collèges is the first official diploma a pupil has to sit at the end of the final year at "collège"

The completion of secondary studies leads to the baccalauréat, it is the end-of-lycée diploma students sit for in order to enter university, a classe préparatoire, or professional life. The term baccalauréat refers to the diploma and the examinations themselves. It is comparable to English & Welsh A-Levels, American SATs or ACTs, the Irish Leaving Certificate, Australia's Higher School Certificate and the German Abitur.

Collège (Junior High)
Age	Grade	Abbreviation
11 -> 12	Sixième	6e
12 -> 13	Cinquième	5e
13 -> 14	Quatrième	4e
14 -> 15	Troisième	3e
Lycée (High school)
Age	Grade	Abbreviation
15 -> 16	Seconde	2nde
16 -> 17	Première	1ere
17 -> 18	Terminale	Term or Tle

the school year extends from early-September to early-July.

Major holiday breaks are as follows:

All Saints (la Toussaint), one and a half weeks around the end of October and the beginning of November;
Christmas (Noël), two weeks around Christmas Day and New Year's Day;
winter (hiver), two weeks starting in mid-February;
spring (printemps) or Easter (Pâques) , two weeks starting in mid-April;
summer (été), two months starting in early-July.