Nurseries and schools

When do you need to provide a medical certificate for your child?

Publié le 22 août 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Whether your child is enrolled in a nursery, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school or high school, it is not always easy to know the situations that require the institution to issue a medical certificate. Service-Public.fr provides a simulator to determine when you need to obtain this medical document for your child.

When you enroll your child in a nursery, the institution may ask you for a medical certificate less than 2 months old indicating that the child has no contraindications to community care. On the other hand, the requirement of a medical certificate for enrollment in nursery or elementary school has been removed by a decree of 15 May 2009; you only need to present a certificate of compliance with the vaccines required for enrollment in school (for example, a copy of the "vaccination" pages of your child's health booklet).

A medical certificate is only required if required by law or regulation ; it is justified only if there is a medical reason. Service-Public.fr has set up, in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM), a simulator to find out what situations require you to obtain a medical certificate to give to your child’s institution.

You must first indicate the type of school your child is attending or is to be enrolled in:

  • nursery;
  • primary school (nursery or elementary school);
  • college;
  • high school.

You are then prompted to specify the situation for which you want to know if a medical certificate is needed, for example:

  • the justification for an absence;
  • taking a medicine;
  • an allergy (in this case, clarification is sought as to whether the allergy results in a special diet or the use of a individualized reception protocol);
  • an outing or a school trip;
  • physical activity or sport (EPS).

When a medical certificate is not required, you are offered to upload a voucher that you can submit to the school.

Please note

Service-Public.fr also offers you a simulator to determine if a medical certificate is required to practice a sport, depending on the situation (age, sports discipline...).

Agenda