Leaving school immediately after the final exam

[Bluepeach]

In S6 can pupils effectively leave school the day after their final exam? My child's school has prize giving and prom etc. in June but we would like to go abroad at the end of May and not come back until after the school year has officially ended for everyone - are kids able to do this in S6 without any consequences? Thanks

I think that's just what happens? What would they go back into school for? They'll have no classes.

Obvs they might not want to miss and ceremonies/proms and the year might all gather on the day of the last official exam when they are all now finished but otherwise no reason they can't go on holiday.

There are no official consequences after age 16 anyway as they are deemed adults and able to choose whether to go to school or not. Equally the school has no obligation to keep educating them if they don't behave/attend regularly and can just remove them from the school roll.

It's effectively a contract between the school and pupil at that point.

The school where I worked (now retired) all the S6's last day was the day before the exams started. The school made a big thing of a pizza party etc to avoid high jinks. It was not expected that S6 would be in school after their last exam.

Yes, that's coming back to me now, my two did have a big cake etc before the exams started.

Make sure you go after the final POTENTIAL exam date. There's always dates after the actual dates to allow for any problems.

It's pretty simple in England. Everyone has the same leaving date of the last Friday in June regardless of when the 16th birthday is.

But in Scotland it all depends on when the 16th birthday is

If you turn 16 between 1 March and 30 September you can leave school after 31 May of that year.
If you turn 16 between 1 October and the end of February you can leave at the start of the Christmas holidays in that school year.

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school#:~:text=Scotland,holidays%20in%20that%20school%20year.

At my dcs school there is the 6th form induction course in July.

It's S6 so they will be over 16. Otherwise I agree 😊

They are leaving S6 which means they will already have done highers (a level equivalent, ish)

@Comefromaway

They are leaving S6 not S4 so there won't be a 16? They will be 17/18 already

OP you will be fine if your child is happy to miss anything that may happen in June. Ours had leavers day which was a massive deal and then the prom.

In Scotland you can leave at 16.

I think people are getting confused as in England they leave after GcSE for college but in Scotland we have 2 more years after the national exams (gcse equivalent) so the DC has already stayed 2 years post 'gcse'

That must be a private school then?

We (me and DC) didn't go back after the last exam. As the years have moved up after the exams, even the S6 common room was taken over by the erstwhile S5s

In most schools there isn’t an “ old “ S6 in June., because they have already started the next years timetable by then. So the old S5 will have moved up and the school will be doing induction days for the P7s / new S1s.

Proms / leavers events tend to happen by the end of a May at the latest. Which sometimes is just before the very last SQA exam.

Yes they can leave afterwards.

@NotMyFirstChoiceofName

DDs prom was the second week of June

Our s6 officially leave at the start of the study leave in April

they only go back in for exams

their prom is in June

if they win a prize they get an invitation to come back and attend the ceremony in September

Agree with others, last day of school for S6 is usually day they go on study leave in April. Then they just go in to sit exams and are gone

Yes, my DD left S6 last year and they had their "leavers day" events in April before the exam leave period started. Then they only needed to go back for exams. Prom was at the beginning of June.

DS is currently S4 and is off on exam leave most of May for Nat 5s. His exams are all squeezed together and he's done by 17th, so we're off for a week's holiday the following week.

Yes. I left school after finishing exams in S6 (many years ago now!) and got a summer job at a nearby tourist attraction. Some kids still went in though and just hung about in the sixth year common room, I think they were just feeling a bit lost tbh.

Thanks for all your replies. They are in S6 so not an age thing - more to do with the fact prom and prize day are in June so I guess attendance at them is optional.