The September school year is approaching. Here are all the answers to practical questions about this important moment for children, parents and teachers.
After the holidays always comes the start of the school year. And it always arrives faster than expected. This year, it involves some changes for teachers and students. News, measures in the event of the absence of teachers, revaluation of the profession of teacher, families concerned by the back-to-school allowance… Important information concerns this start of the 2023 school year.
The date of the “big” September school year corresponds to Monday, September 4, 2023 for all students, from primary to secondary school. The last day of class for the next school year is scheduled for Saturday July 6, 2024, or even the day before for students who do not have classes on Saturday. We also already know that the start of the school year in September 2024 will take place on Monday September 2, and that the start of the school year 2025 will be held on Monday September 1.
| ZONE A | AREA B | AREA C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back to school 2023 | Monday, September 4, 2023 | Monday, September 4, 2023 | Monday, September 4, 2023 |
| Toussaint | End of classes: Saturday, October 21 Resumption of classes: Monday, November 6 | End of classes: Saturday, October 21 Resumption of classes: Monday, November 6 | End of classes: Saturday, October 21 Resumption of classes: Monday, November 6 |
| Christmas | End of classes: Saturday, December 23 Resumption of classes: Monday, January 8, 2024 | End of classes: Saturday, December 23, 2023 Resumption of classes: Monday, January 8, 2024 | End of classes: Saturday, December 23 Resumption of classes: Monday, January 8, 2024 |
| Winter vacation | End of classes: Saturday, February 17, 2024 Resumption of classes: Monday, March 4, 2024 | End of classes: Saturday, February 24, 2024 Classes resume: Monday, March 11, 2024 | End of classes: Saturday, February 10, 2024 Resumption of classes: Monday, February 26, 2024 |
| Easter holidays | End of classes: Saturday April 13, 2024 Resumption of classes: Monday, April 29, 2024 | End of classes: Saturday April 20, 2024 Resumption of classes: Monday, May 6, 2024 | End of classes: Saturday April 6, 2024 Resumption of classes: Monday, April 22, 2024 |
| Summer holidays | Saturday July 6, 2024 | Saturday July 6, 2024 | Saturday July 6, 2024 |
This is the main novelty currently planned for the start of the 2023 school year. return of compulsory mathematics education for all high school students in the general stream from the first class at the start of the 2023 school year was announced by the Minister of National Education on November 13, 2022. In the new strategy of the executive for 2023-2024, many measures are planned to rehabilitate maths among students or to promote equality between girls and boys in this discipline:
- Continuation of the mathematics training plan for school teachers (including nursery school teachers) with the training of all teachers by 2026 (30% are already trained according to the Prime Minister).
- Creation of a math club in each secondary school encouraged from the start of the 2023 school year;
- Establishment of groups with reduced numbers in 6th grade in mathematics or French, “both to support students in difficulty and to stimulate the most advanced students” according to the government;
- Creation of a “national framework of competences in mathematics” (CNCM) on the model of the European framework of reference for languages (CEFRL), in order to certify the level reached by each pupil at the end of 3e.
- The creation at the start of the 2023 school year of a reconciliation module with mathematics in second class in each high school (general and technological high school and vocational high school);
- Make an hour and a half of mathematics compulsory in general first class for all pupils who have not opted for the mathematics speciality.
To combat gender stereotypes and encourage equality between girls and boys, the government is planning overall actions to promote and revalorize scientific orientations among young girls in schools. Objective ? Achieve parity between girls and boys by 2027 in mathematics, physics-chemistry and expert mathematics specialties and strive towards parity for other scientific courses: engineering sciences, digital sciences and computer sciences.
From the start of the school year in September 2023, all 6th graders without exception must benefit from an additional hour of French or math per week. A circular was published by the Ministry of National Education on this point, on January 12. The objective of the Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye: to improve the general level of the students, considered too low. On entering college, the ministry found that one in four students did not have the required level in French, and one in three in mathematics.
- Concretely, how will this extra hour look like? From September, all 6th graders will have on the menu either one hour of support for the most in difficulty, or one hour of deepening for the most comfortable. The idea is to distribute the students by small group and by level, based on the marks of the year spent in CM2 and the national assessments taken at the start of the sixth grade.
- What will be the different working groups? On the one hand, there will be support groups for students in difficulty, which the ministry would rather see supervised by volunteer school teachers, paid especially for this task and accustomed to transmitting the fundamentals. On the other hand, for the so-called in-depth groups, therefore aimed at more comfortable students, the weekly hour will be supervised by the teachers of the college themselves.
- What will the groups work on? Each group will work on a specific segment of French or math, depending on the difficulties or ease of 6th grade: reading, vocabulary, spelling, geometry, calculation, fractions…
- Can we change groups? At the end of the term, students who have progressed will be able to change groups and thus move from support to further study, from French to maths or vice versa.
- Is this “extra hour à la carte” added to the students’ schedule? No, this hour does not really constitute an extra hour in the students’ timetable. It takes the place of technology, a subject that disappears from the program at the start of college. The ministry assures, however, that there will be no abolition of teaching posts. And promises a reinforcement of technology in the following years, in 5th, 4th and 3rd.
Measures have been announced by the government to “make the teaching profession more attractive”. During the back-to-school meeting of academy rectors, at the Sorbonne, on August 25, 2022, Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that the teaching profession was “insufficiently recognized”, announcing better remuneration: “No teacher will start his career under 2000 euros net monthly”, he promised. A commitment made for the start of the 2023 school year. All administrative staff and teachers will see their salaries increase by 10%.
To provoke this “shock of attractiveness”, Pap NDiaye also announced during his back-to-school press conference “attractive initial remuneration” and a “revitalization of careers” through negotiations from the fall of 2022 with the social partners, “from the budgetary frameworks included in the 2023 finance bill”. In addition, an “exceptional competition for the tenure of contract teachers”, must be organized in the spring of 2023. With regard to the shortage of school public transport, the Minister of Education Pap NDiaye has promised a renovation of the school transport driver CAP “in order to enter into a movement to strengthen the attractiveness of these professions”. And this, from the start of the 2023 school year.
What if your child does not have a teacher in the weeks following the start of the school year? Your child will be taken care of and will be able to stay in school, which must ensure permanence. Thus, the law says that “Any child enrolled in a public nursery or elementary school is welcomed during school time to follow the lessons provided for by the programs. He benefits from a free reception service when these lessons cannot be delivered to him due to the unforeseeable absence of his teacher and the impossibility of replacing him. However, the parents’ unions recommend that you immediately notify the rectorate so that a substitute can pick up your child’s lesson time slot.
The return to school has a cost, and many households benefit each year from the back-to-school allowance or back-to-school bonuses. The receipt of aid is based on family income. For the year 2022, it is for example those of 2020 that are taken into account. IThe back-to-school allowance (ARS) was paid on Tuesday August 16, 2022, subject to resources, to families with children aged 6 to 18 attending school in a public or private establishment or in a remote organization such as the Cned. Income conditions range from 25,370 euros with one dependent child to 37,080 euros with three children and then 5,852 euros per additional child.
The amount of the 2022 back-to-school allowance has also been increased. A second payment was therefore made in September. Here are the amounts paid for the start of the 2022 school year, including the 4% revaluations provided for by the government: 392.05 euros per child aged 6 to 10, 413.69 euros per child aged 11 to 14 and 428.02 euros per child aged 15 to 18.