Several other people were injured after the snow hit Les Deux Alpes ski resort as a rescue mission was underway.
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Officials say the avalanche hit 10 students and a teacher from the Saint Exupery school in Lyon.
The incident took place near the Bellecombes slope in the Deux Alpes, south west of Grenoble.
Specialist high mountain police equipped with rescue dogs, a helicopter and thermal imaging cameras searched the debris with 30 rescuers from the ski station and scores of local guides.
As media are reporting conflicting and unclear information, it’s not exactly clear how many people were caught up in the Alps avalanche.
Prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat in the eastern city of Grenoble, near the Alps, said the teacher is being questioned by police at a local hospital where he is treated for injuries from the avalanche.
The slide occurred after a sheet of snow came crashing down onto the slope following days of heavy snowfall.
The school group were skiing on the Bellecombe piste at the Deux Alpes ski resort, according to the BBC.
The skiing season got off to a slow start in France as unseasonably warm temperatures left slopes bare over the festive season with skiers and snowboarders having to make do with artificial snow. “Fresh snow did not attach enough” to the older layer, he said.
It is understood the school party were from the Lyon area of France.
Speaking on i-Tele television Thursday, Bonnetain said “initial witness accounts describe students passing ahead of the leader”. “There is a good chance that it was the skiers themselves that triggered the avalanche”.
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It was not immediately clear how many people (if any) remained unaccounted for Wednesday evening, or how many were found alive in the avalanche area.
