You have just moved the family from Manchester, Bristol or Edinburgh to Lyon, Bordeaux or a village in the Dordogne, and the removal boxes are barely unpacked when the urgent question lands: where does your child go to school, and how quickly must you act? The French answer surprises most British parents. There is no application season to miss, no league-table gamble and no admission interview. Schooling is compulsory from the age of three, every child living in France has a right to a school place whatever the parents’ nationality or residence status, and the route in runs through your local town hall, the mairie, not through the school itself. That simplicity hides traps that catch British families every September: papers demanded that the town hall has no right to ask for, children sent to makeshift classes outside any real school, canteen places refused, and bills that look unchallengeable. This guide walks you through enrolment step by step, states exactly which documents are enough, explains the canteen and after-school rules, and sets out how to challenge any refusal, with the court decisions that prove refusals can be overturned and compensated. If you are still sorting out your own residence papers, read this alongside our arrival formalities guide for British newcomers, which covers visas, residence cards and what to do if the prefecture says no.

I. Enrolling Your Child: the Mairie, the Papers and the Assigned School

A. How enrolment actually works, from nursery class to secondary school

French compulsory schooling starts earlier than in England. Article L131-1 of the Education Code provides: “L’instruction est obligatoire pour chaque enfant dès l’âge de trois ans et jusqu’à l’âge de seize ans.” In plain terms, every child must be in education from the age of three until sixteen, whether in a state school, a private school or, with prior authorisation, taught at home. The duty applies from the September of the calendar year in which the child turns three, and it binds parents from the moment the child lives in France. There is no grace period for newcomers: article L131-5 states that “Les personnes responsables d’un enfant soumis à l’obligation scolaire définie à l’article L. 131-1 doivent le faire inscrire dans un établissement d’enseignement public ou privé” and adds that “Les mêmes formalités doivent être accomplies dans les huit jours qui suivent tout changement de résidence.” A family arriving from the United Kingdom in October must therefore enrol the children within eight days of settling, not at some distant next term.

The first door to knock on is the mairie of your commune, or the mairie d’arrondissement if you live in Paris, Lyon or Marseille. Article L131-6 explains why: “Chaque année, à la rentrée scolaire, le maire dresse la liste de tous les enfants résidant dans sa commune et qui sont soumis à l’obligation scolaire.” The mayor keeps the roll of school-age children, and parents must have the children they look after entered on it. In practice the desk that handles this is often called service des affaires scolaires or service éducation. For nursery school (école maternelle, ages three to six) and primary school (école élémentaire, ages six to eleven) the mairie both registers the child and assigns the school, normally the one for your street. Every commune must provide at least one public primary school: article L212-2 states “Toute commune doit être pourvue au moins d’une école élémentaire publique.” Once the mairie has registered your child, the head teacher issues the proof you keep: article R131-2 provides for the head of the school to issue an enrolment certificate to the persons responsible for the child. Ask for that certificate and keep it with your family papers.

Secondary school works differently, and this is where British parents used to choosing schools feel the cultural shock. From age eleven your child goes to collège (to fifteen) then lycée (to eighteen), and places are allocated by catchment area, the sectorisation. For collèges the map is drawn by the département: article L213-1 provides that the departmental council sets “la localisation des établissements, leur capacité d’accueil, leur secteur de recrutement et le mode d’hébergement des élèves.” You do not apply to the collège of your choice; the education authority assigns the collège for your address, and enrolment runs through that school on presentation of the family file. Exemptions, called dérogations, exist for reasons such as a sibling already in another school, a parent’s workplace nearby or a particular course on offer, but they are granted within available capacity and must be requested early from the education authority, the direction des services départementaux de l’Education nationale. For lycées, assignment after the third year of collège runs through a computerised procedure that weighs home address and school record; again, requests outside the sector are possible but never guaranteed. In Paris and the inner suburbs, where demand for certain schools is fierce, file the dérogation request as soon as you have a signed lease, and keep written proof of the date you filed it.

Behind the scenes the system tracks every child. Article R131-3 requires the mayor to draw up the roll each September with the child’s names, sex, date and place of birth, address and schooling arrangements, plus the parents’ names, address, occupation and relationship to the child, and to update that list on the first of every month, with heads of schools declaring their pupils to the mairie within eight days of term starting. This machinery exists to find children who are not in school, not to keep foreign children out. A British child with a passport, a birth certificate and a French address goes on the list like any other child, and the eight-day declaration duty means a school cannot quietly leave your child off its books either.

B. What the town hall and the school cannot demand, and what they cannot refuse

Here is the rule that protects British families most directly: the list of papers the mairie may ask for is closed by law, and a residence permit is not on it. Article D131-3-1 of the Education Code provides that “Ne peuvent être exigées à l’appui de la demande d’inscription sur la liste mentionnée à l’article L. 131-6 que les pièces suivantes : 1° Un document justifiant de l’identité de l’enfant ; 2° Un document justifiant de l’identité des personnes responsables de l’enfant ; 3° Un document justifiant de leur domicile.” Three documents only: proof of the child’s identity, proof of your identity, and proof of address. The same article adds two safeguards that matter enormously for newly arrived Britons. First, where you cannot produce one of the identity documents, “il peut être attesté sur l’honneur des nom, prénoms, date et lieu de naissance de l’enfant et de l’identité des personnes qui en sont responsables”, and “Il peut être justifié du domicile par tous moyens, y compris une attestation sur l’honneur”, meaning a sworn statement in your own hand can stand in while Home Office paperwork or apostilled birth certificates are still crossing the Channel. Second, “Le maire peut faire procéder à la vérification de la domiciliation sur le territoire de la commune. Cette vérification ne peut faire obstacle à l’inscription de l’enfant sur la liste scolaire.” The mairie may check that you really live there, but no check may block the enrolment. Any demand beyond those three items, a residence card, a tax notice, a translation by a sworn translator as a precondition, a vaccination record as a condition of registration, is outside the closed list and must be challenged, politely but firmly, in writing.

Nationality and immigration status are simply irrelevant to the right to a school place. The courts have said so in the strongest possible terms. In its decision of 19 December 2018, no. 408710, the Conseil d’Etat dealt with a mayor who had refused any schooling to two children aged seven and nine living with their parents in his commune, then parked them in a makeshift class outside any school building. The court recalled that article L131-1 makes education compulsory and that article L131-6 obliges the mayor to list resident children, then held that “le refus de toute scolarisation des deux enfants de M. et Mme B… opposé par le maire de Ris-Orangis est, dès lors qu’ils résidaient effectivement sur le territoire de la commune et alors même que cette résidence aurait résulté d’une occupation illégale de terrains appartenant au conseil départemental de l’Essonne et à Réseau ferré de France et aurait présenté des risques d’insalubrité, entaché d’illégalité”. Read that twice: even unlawful occupation of land could not justify refusing children a school. The court went further and turned the refusal into money, holding that the moral harm suffered by the parents and both children from that unlawful decision was not seriously open to dispute, and ordering the State to pay 500 euros to each parent in their own name and 500 euros to each of them for each of the two minor children. For a British family told informally that papers are missing or that the schools are full, this decision is the shield: residence in the commune is the only territorial condition, and an unlawful refusal can cost the administration, not you.

A word on the alternative some relocating families consider: teaching the children at home while you settle. Since 2022 home schooling, instruction en famille, is no longer a simple declaration but needs prior authorisation, and the grounds are narrow. Article L131-5 states that the authorisation “est accordée pour les motifs suivants, sans que puissent être invoquées d’autres raisons que l’intérêt supérieur de l’enfant : 1° L’état de santé de l’enfant ou son handicap ; 2° La pratique d’activités sportives ou artistiques intensives ; 3° L’itinérance de la famille en France ou l’éloignement géographique de tout établissement scolaire public”, plus a fourth ground where the family shows a genuine educational project and the capacity to deliver it mostly in French, with a written project and supporting evidence. The authorisation lasts at most one school year at a time. Authorised families are then inspected: article L131-10 provides that home-schooled children are subject to a mairie inquiry from the first year and every two years, “uniquement aux fins de vérifier la réalité des motifs avancés” and whether suitable instruction is given, with a medical follow-up certificate supplied by the parents. Wanting to keep a British curriculum going during a transition year is not one of the four grounds, so plan for enrolment in a French school and treat home schooling as the exception it legally is. Older teenagers bound for a French university should note that student residence rules are a separate chapter, covered in our guide for British students in French universities.

II. School Meals, After-School Care and How to Challenge Any Refusal

A. Canteen places and wraparound care: a right for every pupil, with one limit

Once your child has a school place, the next practical battle is the working parent’s timetable: lunch and the hours before and after class. French primary schools commonly run a canteen, the cantine or restauration scolaire, plus morning and evening supervision, the accueil périscolaire or garderie, and sometimes supervised homework, the étude. For British parents used to packed lunches, the key point is that where a canteen exists, access to it is a legal right, not a favour. Article L131-13 of the Education Code states: “L’inscription à la cantine des écoles primaires, lorsque ce service existe, est un droit pour tous les enfants scolarisés. Il ne peut être établi aucune discrimination selon leur situation ou celle de leur famille.” No discrimination on the child’s or the family’s situation: a mayor cannot reserve the canteen for children whose parents both work full time, for residents of a certain age in the commune, or for families that tick local boxes. Prices, however, are local. Article R531-52 provides that “Les tarifs de la restauration scolaire fournie aux élèves des écoles maternelles, des écoles élémentaires, des collèges et des lycées de l’enseignement public sont fixés par la collectivité territoriale qui en a la charge”, so the commune, the department or the region sets the scale, usually with reduced rates for low-income families on proof of income. Ask the mairie for the tariff scale, the grille des tarifs, and for the form that grants the reduced rate: many British families eligible for a discount never claim it because nobody tells them the form exists. In Paris the canteen is organised centrally by the city with income-based pricing, so register for the reduced tariff as soon as your French tax or income documents are available, and keep copies of everything you hand over.

The one lawful limit on the canteen right is physical capacity, and the Conseil d’Etat drew that line precisely. In its decision of 22 March 2021, no. 429361, the court examined a mayor’s refusal to admit a boy to the school canteen and to morning and afternoon supervision. It recalled the L131-13 right word for word, then held that the statute reminds local authorities of the general interest in every pupil enjoying the service and forbids refusals based on considerations contrary to equality, but “ces dispositions ne font pas obstacle à ce que les collectivités territoriales puissent légalement refuser d’y admettre un élève lorsque, à la date de leur décision, la capacité maximale d’accueil de ce service public est atteinte.” A refusal for genuine lack of room is lawful; a refusal dressed up in selection criteria is not. The court accordingly quashed the appeal judgment that had ordered admission regardless of available places, while leaving intact the principle that discrimination is forbidden. The lesson for parents is practical: if places are refused, ask for the refusal in writing with its exact ground. “No room” must be verifiable; anything else, employment status, nationality, date of arrival, unpaid sums from another family member, must be tested against the equality rule. Separately, unpaid canteen bills are recovered like any public debt and cannot quietly become a back-door exclusion ground; if a treasurer’s bill, an avis des sommes à payer, arrives with penalties you dispute, challenge the bill itself rather than accepting that your child loses lunch.

Two smaller items complete the daily picture. First, school insurance, the assurance scolaire: it is compulsory in practice for optional activities such as trips and outings, and schools ask for the certificate each September, so take out a policy with a French insurer or check that your British household cover is accepted before term starts. Second, family benefits: once you are affiliated to the French family benefits fund, the caisse d’allocations familiales, and your children are schooled, you may qualify for the back-to-school allowance, the allocation de rentrée scolaire, paid each August for children aged six to eighteen in school. Claims and residence conditions change, so check the current scale with the fund rather than assuming, but do not leave the question unasked: for a family furnishing a new home it is real money.

B. Challenging a refusal or an unfair bill, step by step

When something goes wrong, an enrolment desk that will not register your child, a canteen place refused on dubious grounds, a tariff that ignores your income, a bill you do not owe, work through the steps in order and keep every paper. Start at once with a written request for a reasoned written decision. French administration must explain itself, and a verbal “come back later” or “there is no room” at the counter is not a decision you can challenge. Write to the mayor, or to the education authority for secondary assignment, by recorded delivery or by email with acknowledgment, restating the facts, enclosing the three lawful documents, and asking for the decision and its legal basis in writing. Quote the closed list of papers and the rule that verification of address cannot block registration: officials who know the file is being built correctly often resolve matters at this stage.

If the written answer is a refusal, file an informal appeal to the same authority, the recours gracieux, within two months, asking it to withdraw the decision. At the same time, prepare the court route, because the clock for judges runs from the notification of the decision and is short. Article R421-1 of the Administrative Justice Code sets the frame: “La juridiction ne peut être saisie que par voie de recours formé contre une décision, et ce, dans les deux mois à partir de la notification ou de la publication de la décision attaquée.” Two months from notification to seize the administrative court, the tribunal administratif, with an action for excess of power, the recours pour excès de pouvoir, asking the judge to annul the refusal. For a child with no school at all, do not wait for the ordinary timetable: the emergency judge, the juge des référés, can order interim protection, and where the administration owes you money the court can order an advance. The Ris-Orangis case above reached the Conseil d’Etat through exactly that emergency advance procedure, since decision no. 408710 records the families seizing the Versailles emergency judge on the basis of article R541-1 of the Administrative Justice Code, under which “Le juge des référés peut, même en l’absence d’une demande au fond, accorder une provision au créancier qui l’a saisi lorsque l’existence de l’obligation n’est pas sérieusement contestable.” Where the unlawfulness is flagrant, a few hundred euros of moral damages per parent and per child, as in that case, concentrates minds at the town hall far better than correspondence alone.

Two companion routes cost nothing and should run alongside, not instead of, the legal steps. The education mediator and the Defender of Rights, the Défenseur des droits, both take complaints about discrimination in access to schooling and school services, and a reasoned opinion from either body attached to your court file carries weight. Keep a single numbered bundle: your proofs of identity and address, every letter sent and received, the written refusal, the recours gracieux and its receipt, and dated notes of every counter visit with the name of the official seen. If the dispute concerns money rather than a place, a canteen bill or a tariff notice, the same discipline applies: pay under protest where non-payment would escalate recovery, then challenge the demand before the competent court within its deadline, asking for the calculation, the tariff scale applied and the legal basis. Never accept an oral statement that a debt blocks enrolment or meals; make the administration write it down, because written unlawful grounds are what judges annul.

Conclusion

A British child arriving in France steps into one of the most protective school systems in Europe: compulsory education from three to sixteen, a closed list of three enrolment documents, assignment to a real school for every resident child, a statutory right to the canteen without discrimination, and judges who annul unlawful refusals and award damages for them. The system works best for parents who file early, carry the exact papers the law requires, demand written reasons for every no, and act within the two-month court deadline when reasons do not come or do not satisfy. Register within eight days of arrival, secure the certificat d’inscription, claim the tariff reductions you qualify for, and treat any refusal as the start of a procedure, not the end of the road.