Children ranging in age from 5 to preteens often have to leave school early for school-related purposes. One common reason is a serious playground injury. If a child falls off the monkey bars and breaks a leg or is pushed down a slide and lands face first, she may leave school to seek medical attention. If a child is bullied in school and is unable to continue the day at school due to mental anguish, a parent or caregiver will often remove the child from school early that day.
Middle school students have to leave school early at times for school-related reasons. A common one is for sports purposes. A sporting team often needs to leave school early for practices or games, and the students are given permission to check out early. Another reason for students to leave early is to get outside help. Some students need assistance from tutors or to attend special programs to help improve their skills in certain areas, and attending to educational help is a valid reason to leave school early. Some classes such as drama hold out-of-school performances, and leaving to attend them is another reason students may leave school before the school day is over.
When teenagers are in high school, they often leave school early for work experience reasons. A number of courses in high school require work experience, and in many instances students leave school early to fulfill work obligations. High school students also leave early for school-related sporting events. The basketball team may be leaving before the final bell of the day to get to the town where it will play a game. The football squad may need to leave school early for training before a tournament.
University students sometimes cut classes early for school-related reasons. If a school course requires a student to be on another campus or in another town, the student may leave early if the travel time indicates that leaving after classes were over for the day would not be enough time to get to their destination. In some cases a student will leave early for out-of -class requirements. Many university courses require students to do outside work or attend out-of-school functions, and leaving school early to fulfill the obligations is usually required.