Summary statistics for Follow- Up Leaver Destinations, No. 6: 2024 Edition

1. About these statistics

School leaver follow-up destinations

This publication provides information on the destination of school leavers nine months after the end of the school year (the first Monday in April 2024).

The activities of school leavers are grouped into ‘positive destinations’ and ‘other destinations’ as shown in this diagram:

For most young people in Scotland S4 (≈15-16 year olds) is the last compulsory year of school, but most choose to stay on and complete S5 (≈16-17 year olds) and S6 (≈17-18 year olds).

This publication covers pupils who left publicly funded mainstream schools, in the 32 local authorities and one grant aided school (Jordanhill).

A separate publication – Summary statistics for attainment and initial leaver destinations, no. 6: 2024 edition – published in February 2024 provided information on what school leavers were doing three months after the end of the school year (the first Monday in October 2023).

Impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on these statistics

The time series presented in this publication includes years where school leaver destinations are likely to have been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The greatest impact is likely to have been seen in 2019/20. However, there may have been some ongoing impact on the destinations of some school leavers in subsequent years. More information can be found in the School Leaver Follow-up Destinations - Methodology and Data Sources document.