School Holiday in France - Schools Out Early For Summer

With several bank holidays in the month, and classes disrupted by national examinations beginning early June, the school year has already started to come to an end for some pupils.

The silly season of holidays kicked off on 1st May, the traditional Fête du travail, soon followed by Victoire de 1945 celebrations on 8th May, with Ascension Day due on 17th May this year, and Whit Monday at the end of the month. Officially, the latter is no longer a public holiday, but many companies and public bodies use the flexibility in the rules to close down operations.

If any of these bank holidays fall either side of a weekend it is not unusual for French families to take a long weekend (faire le pont), thereby further reducing the number of days their child attends school during the month.

Once June arrives, then both teachers and classes are requisitioned, in order that national examinations can take place.

Those children not participating in the exam process are often left to their own devices at school, or simply absent themselves on a family holiday.

Worst affected are the lycées, where each year in early June most of the upper secondary schools are transformed into exam centres, and many tens of thousand of teachers seconded to undertake exam supervision and marking of exam papers.

First year students at lycée do not sit examinations and so most are relieved from attending classes from the beginning of June.

Within the collèges, a similar process occurs with the lower secondary school leaving examination called the Brevet.

The organisation of the baccalaureate, in particular, is a very costly and time-consuming process because of the sheer number of optional subjects available to students.

Critics argue that the whole 'bac' process is far too costly, and that there ought to be some rationalisation in the choice of subjects and options available.

Others argue that, rather than reduce the choice available to students, greater investment should be made in teachers and examination centres, as well as providing those not taking exams with more supervised workshops, sports and cultural activities.

For more information about French public and national holidays please visit the following page: Holidays in France