School

Steps

1. Nursery and primary (3 to 11): go to the town hall of your home. It gives you a certificat d'inscription (registration certificate) that names the school. For the September start, registration is in principle by June at the latest (often from March); if you arrive during the year, do it as soon as you settle.
2. Admission to the school: present the registration certificate and the vaccination record to the head of the school.
3. Lower and upper secondary (collège and lycée, 11 to 18): if your child arrives from abroad, as soon as you arrive, contact the CASNAV of the school district (académie) of your main residence (academic centre for the schooling of newly arrived pupils who do not speak French). Your child meets a National Education psychologist there, who studies their school history and arranges an assessment of what they have learned. The district then assigns them to a collège or a lycée, depending on their level and the places near your home. For a registration outside your catchment area or in case of difficulty, the direction des services départementaux de l'Éducation nationale (DSDEN, the departmental education services) of your département is the contact. The child must be present in France at the time of registration, and the list of documents varies between school districts: ask the school for it before registering (service-public F21304).
4. If they do not speak French: a pupil already schooled abroad generally joins a regular class of their level, with intensive French lessons if needed in a UPE2A (pedagogical unit for newly arrived pupils who do not speak French). A pupil with little or no schooling is taken in full time in a UPE2A to learn French (service-public F21304; circular No 2012-141 of 2 October 2012). The district's CASNAV oversees this scheme.
5. Canteen and out-of-school care: register at the town hall (or on its family portal); additional documents may be requested.
6. Early childhood (before 3): municipal nursery (crèche), private crèche or approved childminder; ask at the town hall and the CAF. The complément de libre choix du mode de garde (CMG, childcare choice supplement), paid by the CAF or the MSA, helps pay for the care of a child under 6, if you or your partner work (special cases: students, certain benefit recipients). For a micro-crèche, it covers up to 85% of costs, within a monthly ceiling that depends on your family situation and your income (2024 net income by category for 2026): for a couple with one child under 3, from €992.12 (income up to €24,333) to €718.41 (above €54,075) (service-public F345, checked on 1 April 2026). For a childminder or home childcare, ask the CAF for the rules and ceilings. The fee of a municipal crèche is set by the municipality: ask the town hall.

Documents

• Identity document of the child and the parent (family record book, passport, identity card or birth certificate), or sworn statement.
• Recent proof of address (or sworn statement).
• Proof of compulsory vaccinations, or of a contraindication.
• For collège and lycée: the list varies between school districts; often the latest school reports from abroad (translated if possible). Ask the school the child is assigned to.

Costs and timelines

• Public school: free. Supplies and trips remain partly at your expense.
• Canteen: rate set by each municipality, often calculated according to your quotient familial (income divided by a number of shares). Some municipalities offer aid.
• 2026-2027 calendar (mainland France): start of school for pupils on 1 September 2026 (zones A, B and C; 3 September 2026 in Corsica); All Saints' holidays from 17 October to 2 November 2026; Christmas from 19 December 2026 to 4 January 2027; start of the summer holidays on 3 July 2027. Winter and spring holidays depend on the zone (A, B or C, depending on the school district).
• Corsica and the overseas territories: their own calendars (start on 18 August 2026 in La Réunion, 24 August 2026 in Mayotte, 1 September 2026 in Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana).

Common pitfalls

• Believing that you can keep your child at home. Home education requires prior authorisation from the academic director, granted for limited reasons.
• Leaving it late for nursery school. In big cities, registrations open early: contact the town hall as soon as you have your address.
• Forgetting the vaccination record. It is requested for admission; the vaccines compulsory in France may differ from those in your country.
• Choosing the school freely. Public school depends on your address (carte scolaire, school catchment map). A waiver is possible but not guaranteed.
• International and private schools: there are private schools under contract (moderate fees), private international schools (high fees), international sections in some public schools and approved European schools. Each school sets its fees and conditions: ask for its fee scale before registering. Public school, for its part, is free. International sections exist in some public schools, by language; their admission conditions (file, tests, level in French and in the section's language) are governed by an order published in the BO of 17 January 2019. The languages offered, the details of the tests and the list of schools are to be confirmed with the rectorat of your school district.
• Foreign qualifications: to have a qualification recognised (yours or that of an adult child), the ENIC-NARIC France centre issues comparability certificates; for a regulated profession, recognition goes through the profession's authority, which varies by occupation: the ENIC-NARIC centre tells you which. The comparability certificate is applied for online, in two steps: €20 to check the admissibility of the file, then €100 if the file is admissible (so €120 in all; free for asylum seekers and refugees). The centre has at most 4 months after payment to reply (service-public R38515 and F463). This certificate is not an equivalence and has no legal value: it is the institution or employer that decides.

What changes by country of origin

• All countries: same right to free public school, whatever the nationality or residence status.
• Vaccinations: compare your country's schedule with the vaccines compulsory in France before registering.