School holiday dates revealed

WITH the grandes vacances in full swing in France, the Department of Education has published the holiday dates for the 2014/15 school year.

As every parent is well aware, rentrée for children attending state schools after the long summer break is Tuesday, September 2.

Schools across the whole of France will break up for the autumn vacation, Toussaint, on Friday, October 17. Pupils will return on Monday, November 3.

The Christmas holidays are also common to the whole of the country. The last day of school will be Friday, December 19. Schools will re-open for classes on Monday, January 5.

The winter holidays, however, will be split into three geographical zones.

Schools in Zone A (Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Rennes and Toulouse) will break up on Friday, February 6 and return on Monday, February 23.

Schools in Zone C (Bordeaux, Créteil, Paris and Versailles) will break up a week later, on Friday February 13, and return on Sunday, March 1.

Schools in Zone B (Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Besançon, Dijon, Lille, Limoges, Nice, Orléans-Tours, Poitiers, Reims, Rouen and Strasbourg) are the last to finish, on Friday, February 20. Pupils will return to class on Monday, March 9.

Spring holidays have been similarly split among the three zones.

The last day of school before the holidays for pupils in Zone A will be Friday, April 10. Classes will resume on Monday, April 27.

Pupils in Zone C will finish classes on Friday, April 17 and return on Monday, May 4.

In Zone B, schools will break-up on Friday, April 24 and return on Monday, May 11.

The last day of school before the grandes vacances in 2015 will be Friday, July 3.

For more information, log on to the service-public website.