School Leavers Survey.[@R22] The School Leavers Survey seeks to obtain accurate data on pupils in each school year who leave school having reached the minimum school leaving age or who have exceptional permission to leave school before the minimum leaving age. Pupils in Scotland can leave school in May if they turn 16 years old between March and September or in December if they turn 16 years old between October and February.[@R24] The data are held by the Scottish Exchange of Education Data (ScotXed) unit within the Education Analytical Services Division of the Learning and Justice Directorate of the Scottish Government. Local authorities are responsible for submitting data collected by each school within their area to ScotXed. Information collected includes date of leaving, stage of secondary school atand school leaver destination information on cohort members was obtained by combining attainment data and data collected from other school surveys. In addition to the School Leavers Survey, these included the School Pupil Census, the National Statistics School Leaver Destinations Survey and the Attendance, Absence and Exclusions Survey. The School Pupil Census is an annual survey used to obtain data on publicly funded schools in Scotland and their pupils. Data are collected from school management information systems for all local authority and grant-aided schools and school centres. These data are generally of high quality since information is recorded directly from pupil enrolment forms.[@R25] The National Statistics School Leaver Destinations Survey is used to collect information on the destination of pupils 3 months and then again at approximately 9 months after leaving school.