In France, nursery school (l'école maternelle) accommodates children aged 3 to 5, and some schools will accept students as young as 2 years old.
The école maternelle is an integral part of the broader French educational system. It precedes the elementary school and is fully integrated with it — its students feed directly into the elementary school programme. In 2014, it educated 11.8% of two-year-old children and almost all three- to five-year-old children. Nursery school was optional until the start of the 2019 school year, but is now compulsory from the age of three.
There are currently 14,283 public nursery schools in France, as well as 135 private establishments.[1] The nursery school cycle is an important element of the French education system and aims to ensure the awakening and socialisation of young children.
- ^ ville-data.com, ecole France sur. "Ecole France primaire et maternelle publique et privée". ville-data.com (in French). Retrieved 2022-06-30.