Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 8: 2026 edition

Section 2. The school leaver cohort

The statistics in Section 2 refer to all school leavers from mainstream schools, including S3, S4, S5, S6 and ‘other’ stages. These are also the leavers in scope in the statistics in Section 3 (destinations), Section 5 (attainment in National Qualifications) and Section 6 (additional qualifications). Section 4 (attainment in All SCQF Qualifications) is based on leavers from S4-S6 only.

Statistics on destinations and attainment in National Qualifications that also include leavers from Scotland’s publicly funded special schools are available in Supplementary Tables L3.1, N3.1, N3.2, Z2.1a and Z2.1b.

Section 2.1 The size and composition of the school leaver cohort

The 2024-25 school leaver cohort was 55,801 pupils. It is the second largest leaver cohort since the current time series began in 2009-10, only larger in 2023-24 when 55,988 pupils left.    

The school leaver cohort fluctuates each year. It is affected by both the pupil rolls (e.g. S4, S5 and S6) each year, and also the decisions then made by pupils on whether to leave school that year, or to continue on to the next school year. Almost all S6 pupils in any academic year will leave school during or at the end of that year.

Compared to 2023-24, the absolute number of leavers from both S4 and S5 has decreased. The largest decrease was in S4 leavers which dropped from 8,084 in 2023-24 to 7,540 in 2024-25, a decrease of 544 pupils. S5 leaver numbers decreased by 370 (from 15,921 in 2023-24 to 15,551 in 2024-25). The number of S6 leavers increased from 31,956 in 2023-24 to 32,688, an increase of 732 pupils.  

Chart 1a: The number of leavers from S4 and S5 decreased over the latest year but the number of leavers from S6 increased

Number of leavers by stage of leaving, 2018-19 to 2024-25

When looking at the proportion of leavers who left at each stage, the percentage of leavers from both S4 and S5 has decreased in 2024-25 compared to last year. Over a quarter (27.9 per cent) left in S5, down from 28.4 per cent in 2023-24 but an increase from 26.8 per cent in 2018-19. 13.5 per cent left in S4, a decrease from 14.4 percent in 2023-24 but an increase from 11.9 per cent in 2018-19.

The proportion of S6 leavers has increased compared to least year, rising by 1.5 percentage points from 57.1 per cent in 2023-24 to 58.6 per cent in 2024-25. However, compared to 2018-19 the proportion of leavers from S6 has decreased by 2.6 percentage points from 61.2 per cent.

Less than 0.1 per cent of 2024-25 school leavers left in S3 or another stage (similar to previous years). A full time series for 2009-10 to 2024-25 can be found in Supplementary Tables C1.1a and C1.1b.

Chart 1b: Since 2018-19 the proportion of S4 and S5 leavers has increased while the proportion of S6 leavers has decreased

Percentage of leavers by stage of leaving, 2018-19 to 2024-25

The size of the S4 and S5 cohort has grown over time (both by 14 per cent since 2018-19) whilst the S6 cohort has grown by less (7 per cent increase since 2018-19). This partially explains the increase in S4 and S5 leaver numbers over this period.

Pupils who turn 16 between October and February are not able to leave school until the end of the Autumn term in S5. Those who do are often referred to as ‘winter leavers’. In 2024-25, the proportion of S5 leavers who left before the end of the school year - most of whom were winter leavers - was 41.7 per cent. This figure is higher than those seen in recent years, but it is lower than 2009-10 when the figure was 46.8 per cent.