What Are Schools In France Like?

The system of education in France is divided into three stages. It follows a highly centralised, organised, systematic and ramified order. The three stages in the French educational system are enseignement primaire or primary education, enseignement secondaire or secondary education and enseignement superieur or tertiary (college) education. Between the ages of three and five years, the child goes to the Petite section (PS) at the age of three years, the Moyenne section (MS) at four and the Grande section (GS) at the age of five. Schooling in France at the enseignement primaire stage begins at the age of six years with the cours preparatoire (abbreviated as CP) grade, and moves on to the cours elementaire premiere annee (CE1), cours elementaire deuxieme annee (CE2), cours moyen premiere annee (CM1) and cours moyen deuxieme annee (CM2) grades. The child is seven years old when he or she enters CE1, eight years old when he or she enters CE2, nine years old when he or she enters CM1 and ten years old when he or she enters CM2.