School holidays change for many

SCHOOL holiday dates for the 2015/16 academic year in France have been unveiled by the education ministry - with changes to the zones that some areas fall within and a slightly later finish to the academic year.

All pupils will go back to school on September 1 this year, and the same date in 2016.

Like now, holiday dates vary depending on which zone a school is in - but some regions are changing zone to match the redrawing of France's regions, meaning different holiday dates to usual.

Another change announced today is the creation of a long Ascension weekend, as the holiday falls on Thursday May 5 and no classes will take place on Friday or Saturday.

To make up the lost days of lessons, the academic year finishes slightly later than usual, on July 5 next year.

The education ministry says it has tried to align the holiday calendar as much as possible around the concept of five weeks of lessons and two weeks of holidays, which some experts say is the best rhythm.

Pupils in the Rennes area switch from zone A to zone B holiday dates, swapping with Poitiers. Montpellier moves from A to C and Bordeaux becomes zone B instead of C.

The three newly designed zones for school holidays are:

Zone A: Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon, Poitiers.
Zone B: Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Caen, Lille, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Nice, Orléans-Tours, Reims, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg
Zone C: Créteil, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse, Versailles.

Holiday dates for 2015/16 can be found on the second page of this document: