EXPERT
10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOL SYSTEM
At lycée meals are more varied and she was entertained to hear classmates complaining that the canteen had run out of caviar and smoked salmon during the Christmas meal. Isaak is allergic to mussels and accidentally ate some, mixed in with ratatouille, two weeks aſt er we moved here. When I phoned the school to ask about registering the allergy, the response was that it was up to him to avoid them, but your child can usually take their own lunch by arrangement.
Lycée Woillez, which Helena and Isaak both attend 1 The school intake is based on the calendar
7 Homework doesn’t have to be done at home, but there is oſt en a lot of it. Free periods year and not the school year, so a child born
in September would usually be in the same year as one born in the previous March. Retaking a year is common at primary school level and before you move, it’s worth discussing with a new school which year you (and they) think would suit your child best.
2 School days are long, but variable. They typically start at 8.30am and fi nish at
5-5.30pm, but Wednesday aſt ernoons are usually free, and lessons may well start later or fi nish earlier on some days. Helena oſt en chooses to spend these free periods at school, but in the fi rst year both kids were glad to be at home whenever they could.
3 School holidays are long and bank holidays can fall on any day of the week. There are
moving less than four months later, to a cold, dated house with no heating in November. None of this left a lot of time to prepare our kids or endear them to their new home. Helena says: “It was
incredibly hard at fi rst. It felt as though I’d lost all my friends and I couldn’t make more as it was so hard to communicate. I felt like a burden and I hated people feeling sorry for me.” Français Langue Seconde classes, organised by their school at another school 30 minutes away, taught our kids the basics of French life and language and allowed them to meet children from all over the world. “We met refugees in the class and that really put my experience in perspective,” says Helena.
I asked her what we could have done to make things
easier. She told me she wished we had provided regular
tutoring and forced her to learn more French, even though it would have felt mean at the
time. To parents considering
three diff erent zones staggering school holidays in France. Pupils get two weeks off in October, at Christmas, in February and at Easter. Whitsun half term doesn’t exist, but there is a four-day weekend in late May. Bank holidays fall on a particular date, such as the 8 May or 11 November and not on the nearest Monday as in the UK.
4 School fi nishes for summer in early July. Pupils who don’t have exams, however, will
oſt en stop going in aſt er the conseil de classe in June. This school council happens three times a year and comprises class representatives and teachers who discuss progress for the school report. It’s particularly important at the end of middle school, as it determines whether the path the student wants to follow is suitable.
5 Averages are oſt en everything, although some schools are starting to assess students
on their competencies instead. In middle school (collège) and high school (lycée) your child will take regular tests and be marked out of 20. A score above 10 means they are likely to pass their exams and below means they may not. Parents and pupils can usually connect to an app that allows them to see grades and access school reports and which the school uses to communicate with parents.
6 Canteen food is not like in the UK. Usually it is a three-course main meal with a starter,
bread, main and dessert and oſt en it is varied and of good quality. Provision for vegetarians or vegans, however, is patchy. Helena eats fi sh but not meat and at middle school, she would oſt en be eating plain pasta or rice because the fi sh had all gone.
at middle school are spent in permanence – a supervised study session that can be used for devoir maison (graded homework) or to study for devoirs surveillés or évaluations (tests). In lycée, free periods aren’t supervised, but places for private study are oſt en provided.
8 Academic subjects aren’t the only choice. At middle school, you’ll choose between
diff erent modern languages and can add Latin, additional English or other options. Beyond that, all students take the same subjects for the brevet, usually at 15, and schooling is compulsory until 16. Roughly two-thirds of lycéens follow the three-year génerale et technologique academic curriculum, choosing specialisms within that. A third will choose a bac pro course – specialising in subjects such as agriculture, tourism, health or business studies. Those that don’t go to lycée may choose a formation or vocational course, military service or an apprenticeship.
9 Learning by rote is the norm; good behaviour is expected and praise is not common. Isaak
was used to applying critical thinking in his UK secondary school curriculum and found the contrast noticeable. The curriculum taught is broad, with more emphasis on language learning and at high school, philosophy forms an important part of the core curriculum, along with French, maths, science, languages, geography, history and sport.
10 State schools, including many international ones, are secular while private schools can
be religious. State schooling is free, but private schools are not usually an expensive option. It is common, and relatively cheap, to board if the state or private school you choose is at a distance. Home schooling is possible but now needs offi cial approval and this is increasingly diffi cult to get.
The Daly children went to this collège or middle school FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: July/August 2023 55
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