School in France: compulsory from three, enrolling via the mairie, and the class for those who don't yet speak French

Yes, your child can go to public school in France, free of charge, and it must: compulsory schooling — the obligation d'instruction — starts at three and runs to sixteen, with a training obligation to eighteen after that. What it costs is nothing for the school itself; canteen and after-school care are separate. The find is in the procedure: you enrol not at the school but at the mairie, which designates the school on the basis of your address, and on moving that has to happen within eight days. The trap is the age: a Dutch parent who wants to keep their four-year-old at home until "school really starts" is breaking French law — that carries a fine of up to € 1,500.

From what age must your child go to school?

Age	What applies	Where
3 to 6	compulsory; enrol at the école maternelle	mairie, then the school
6 to 11	école élémentaire (CP to CM2)	mairie, then the school
11 to 15	collège	Casnav and the education service of the académie
15 to 18	lycée; from 16 no longer compulsory but a training obligation	Casnav and the académie
On moving	enrol within 8 days at the mairie of the new address	mairie
Not enrolling	fine of up to € 1,500; after a formal notice from the education service up to € 7,500 and six months	—

Every school year the mayor draws up the list of all children of school age in the municipality and updates it monthly. A family settling with children is therefore on a list by itself — it is not a question of whether the mairie notices, but when.

How does enrolment at primary school work?

In two steps. First the mairie of your place of residence, with proof of your identity and the child's (passport, birth certificate or family record book) and a recent justificatif de domicile; a declaration on honour is also allowed for that. For the canteen and after-school care the mairie may ask for more papers. Regular enrolments usually run from March and should be complete by June for the school year that starts in September — but a child arriving mid-year is "received from its enrolment at the mairie", even while the allocation of the right class is still running.

If your child is six or over, the mairie refers it to specialised teachers for an assessment: knowledge of French (from complete beginner to advanced), other school languages such as English, what the child can already do in its previous language of schooling — mathematics above all — and how familiar it is with school writing. On that basis the mairie issues a certificat d'inscription with the allocated school. With that you go to that school, together with proof of the compulsory vaccinations, and the head completes the enrolment.

What is a UPE2A, and will your child go into one?

If your child's French is sufficient, it goes into an ordinary class — possibly with children who are not exactly the same age, although the gap may in principle not exceed two years. If the French is insufficient, it goes into a unité pédagogique pour élèves allophones arrivants, the UPE2A: intensive French, alternated with hours in the ordinary class. How long that lasts depends on the child; the aim is that it sits fully in the ordinary class "as quickly as possible, usually after a year", and it is assessed along the way without waiting for the end of the school year. Whoever leaves the UPE2A can keep support in French for years. Children under six simply go to the nursery class; there is no assessment there.

Do not count on a school in your own street. The mairie allocates the school on the basis of your address and of where there is room. Your choice of home in the previous phase was therefore also a choice of school, and the UPE2A is not at every school — a child that needs one can end up further from home than its brother or sister.

And at the collège and the lycée?

There the route runs through the Casnav, the academic centre for newly arrived non-French-speaking pupils. On arrival you contact the Casnav of your place of residence; your child meets a school psychologist from the education service there, who looks at its school career and organises an assessment. The result goes to the académie, which allocates a collège or lycée — on the basis of what the child can do and of the places in a suitable school near you. You enrol there; the child must then be in France, and which papers the school asks for varies by rectorate. Whoever needs intensive French also gets a UPE2A here, with an individual timetable; whoever had little or no schooling in their country of origin is taken into such a unit full-time.

A teenager has it harder than a toddler, and the French system knows it: the oldest and least-schooled pupils are "helped and guided" towards a suitable training path. Extra language support is no luxury for that group. In the roadmap for France school is the first step after arrival, with the eight days — and the first weeks show why the proof of address must already be ready for it.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to France or go straight to step 5.1 in the open plan.