Vacation Information

Vacation... or Holidays as us Americans will quickly start calling them when you realize that none of your students understand the word "vacation." There are 4 PAID vacations throughout the year:

• Vacances de Toussaint (All Saints Day) - Lasts for a week plus 3 days - return for a Thursday and Friday
• Vacances de Noël - 2 weeks at Christmas time.
  
• Vacances d'Hiver - 2 weeks in February
• Vacances de Printemps - 2 weeks in April

For exact dates, visit this website: http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid184/le-calendrier-scolaire.html?dept=&annee=5. This posts the vacation schedules for the current and following years for the whole country. Note that the Académie de Caen is in Zone A. The Toussaint and Noël vacations fall at the same time for the whole country, but the Hiver and Printemps differ zone to zone.

There are also a couple of banks holidays that you have off. If they fall on a Tuesday or Thursday, they are “bridged” over to create a 4-day weekend, so you’d have the Monday or Friday off as well. The following bank holidays you will have off:

• November 11th - Armistice Day
  
• Easter Moday (day after Easter, duh) - Date varies

For 9-month assistants that may be reading, here are the bank holidays that affect you in May and June:

• Labour Day - May 1st
• Ascention Day - Date varies (40 days aftr Easter)
• Pentecost Monday - Date varies (7 weeks after Easter Monday)

Pretty nice, huh?