I. Early Education/Collège/ Lycée

From Day-Care to University
In France, the 12 million kids are required to go to school from ages 6 to 16. Every school, even university, can be free.
The system starts early, as babies only a few months old and young children up to the age of two are cared for in public day-care centers, or sometimes centers run by parents. Between two and five years old, children go to maternelle (preschool). At six, they enter elementary school where, like in the U.S., they learn to read and write, and study mathematics, history and geography. The school day usually goes from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and continues in the afternoon from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.  m. During the  two-hour lunch break, kids can go home or eat at la cantine (cafeteria). 
Students then move on to junior high, which is called college, between the ages of 11 and 14. Two foreign languages, sciences, computer science, economics, arts, physical education and more are in the program. 

Le lycée (high school) is then the final step before university. Students choose the specialty of their studies for the last two years of high school and on which they will be tested in the Baccalauréat, a week-long final exam covering all subjects studied in the Lycée. The final diploma, which young people usually refer to as the bac, is needed to get into a university. At 18 years old or more, 2.2 million students go to the university for free, some to private universities(very few), while others will try to gain admission to what are called the Grandes Écoles which are very rigorous in selecting students, and require a small tuition. From day-care to university, French parents can obviously choose between public or private schools. Both systems are good as France boasts one of the highest literacy rate in the world: 99%. All have to comply by national standards.

From Kindergarden (Maternelle) to Middle School (College) to High School (Lycée)