Request for an exception to the school catchment area (France)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in French
The PDF you download is in French — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
For a parent who wants their child in a French state nursery or primary school other than the catchment one, in the same commune or another. If the town hall has its own form, free of charge, use it. Otherwise this letter in French to the mayor identifies the child, the catchment school and the school requested, and gives the ground: a brother or sister at the school, work constraints, medical reasons certified under separate cover, or another reason. No exception is a right. For collège and lycée, the request goes to the academic director.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- You want your child to attend a different state nursery or primary school in France from the catchment one.
- Your child’s brother or sister already goes to another school and you want them together.
- Your working hours make the catchment school hard to reach and a school near your work would help.
- Your town hall has no form for a catchment exception and you want to write to the mayor.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Parent
- Parent's address
- Town hall (e.g. Mairie de Lyon)
- Town hall's postal address
- City
- Date
- School year
- Child
- Child's date of birth
- Class level requested (e.g. petite section, CP)
- School of your home's catchment area
- School
- Ground for the request
- Details of the request
- Attachments
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Is an exception to the school catchment area a right in France?
- No. Each school's catchment is set by the commune (article L. 212-7 of the French Education Code), and the mayor weighs each request against the places available. For a school in another commune, article L. 212-8 makes the commune of residence contribute to the costs in certain cases: the parents' work obligations with no canteen or childcare in the commune of residence, a brother or sister at school in the receiving commune, medical reasons. Enclose proof of your ground.
- How is an exception requested for a French collège or lycée?
- From the academic director of national education services (DASEN), on the form and calendar of your académie, often in spring, usually through the current school. Requests are ranked by national priority criteria, such as a disability, medical care nearby, a pupil with a grant, a brother or sister at the school, or a home at the edge of the catchment area. This letter to the mayor is for nursery and primary school.
- Should the child's health be described in the request for a school exception in France?
- No. If the ground is medical, the letter says so without detail, and the medical certificate is sent separately in a sealed envelope. If refused, you can make an informal appeal to the mayor and go to the administrative court within two months of the decision, or of the reply to an informal appeal made within that time. Hand the request in at the town hall against a receipt, or send it by registered post to keep proof of its date, before the deadline the commune sets.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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