Scottish Education Deadline Tracker

My Qualifications Scotland sign-up for results alerts

Sign up for My Qualifications Scotland by 5pm on Wednesday 15 July 2026 to get exam results by text and email from 8am on results day. No sign-up means waiting for the school or the post.

Date varies or isn’t confirmed yet — check the official source.

SQA Results Day

National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher results land. Results by text and email from 8am via My Qualifications Scotland, UCAS Hub updates at 9am when the results embargo lifts, and Clearing choices can be added from 10am.

A-Level results day (England, Wales & NI)

The rest of the UK gets results two weeks after Scotland — UK-wide Clearing competition intensifies from this date, so Scottish students in Clearing should move before it.

Scottish schools return

Most of Scotland’s 32 councils start the 2026/27 school year in the week of 17 August — check your own council’s exact date.

Date varies or isn’t confirmed yet — check the official source.

EMA application cut-off for backdating

Apply for the Education Maintenance Allowance by the end of September to have the £30/week payments backdated to the start of term. Apply later and you lose the early weeks.

Date varies or isn’t confirmed yet — check the official source.

UCAS deadline — medicine, dentistry, vet, Oxbridge

Applications for 2027 entry to medicine, dentistry, veterinary courses and Oxford/Cambridge must be in by 18:00 (UK time) on 15 October — months before the main deadline.

Clearing 2026 closes

The last realistic window to pick up a 2026 university place through Clearing. Vacancies thin out long before this — most movement happens in August.

Date varies or isn’t confirmed yet — check the official source.

P1 registration

Councils set their own P1 registration window for the August 2027 intake: Glasgow 2–6 November 2026 (p1enrolment.edhqwebmis.org.uk, read 2026-11-01), Edinburgh from 30 October 2026 (council placing-in-schools guide, read 2026-11-01); others, such as Highland, run theirs in January. Register at your catchment school even if you plan a placing request elsewhere.

Date varies or isn’t confirmed yet — check the official source.

UCAS main equal-consideration deadline

The main UCAS deadline for 2027 entry — applications received by 18:00 (UK time) on 13 January 2027 get equal consideration from all universities. Re-checked against UCAS’s 2027-entry dates and deadlines page on 2026-11-01.

Best Start Grant School-Age Payment window closes

The £331.95 School-Age Payment for children born between 1 March 2021 and 28 February 2022 (first old enough to start P1 in August 2026) can be claimed from 1 June 2026 to 28 February 2027 — mygov.scot, read 2026-11-01.

Placing request deadline

A placing request for the August 2027 intake that reaches the council by 15 March must be decided by 30 April, or it counts as refused (Education (Placing in Schools Etc—Deemed Decisions) (Scotland) Regulations 1982, reg. 4, read on legislation.gov.uk 2026-11-01). A later request must be decided within two months. Councils set their own, often earlier, closing date — Edinburgh’s is 24 December.

SAAS final deadline for 2026/27 funding

The last date to apply to SAAS for the 2026/27 academic year. Funding applied for this late arrives well after term starts — the 30 June guarantee date is the one to aim for.

Qualifications Scotland exam diet begins

First papers of the confirmed 2027 National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher diet. Exams run to Wednesday 2 June, with Thursday 3 June held as the contingency day.

Last exams of the 2027 diet

Final papers of the 2027 diet. Thursday 3 June is the contingency day — no exams are scheduled on it unless one has to be moved.

UCAS — last date before applications go into Clearing

Applications received by 18:00 (UK time) on 30 June 2027 are sent to universities as normal; anything later goes straight into Clearing, which opens on 2 July.

SAAS guarantee deadline

Apply to SAAS by 30 June to guarantee your tuition and living-cost funding is in place for the start of term in September.

Qualifications Scotland Results Day 2027

National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher results for the 2027 diet. A week later than 2026 — the second Tuesday of August rather than the first.

School clothing grant — apply before term starts

Most councils open applications for the 2027/28 school year in the summer term. At least £120 (primary) / £150 (secondary) per child — apply before schools return in mid-August to have the money for the new uniform. Some councils pay automatically with free school meals.

Date varies or isn’t confirmed yet — check the official source.

Clearing 2027 — last date to add a choice

UCAS’s last date to add a Clearing choice for 2027 entry. The final date for any 2027-entry application is 18:00 on 23 September 2027 — and most Clearing movement happens in August.