The title refers to the breaking up of school at the end of the day. Most of the children hurtle towards the exit, with one or two whose work has been bad retained for punishment. Along with the minister, the schoolmaster was a ruling power in a small rural community. Harvey's painting stands as a record of Scottish village life, alongside pictures like David Wilkie's ‘Pitlessie Fair’ (NG 1527) and John Phillip’s ‘Presbyterian Catechising’ (NG 1155). Harvey made great use of the translucent brown shadows which southern critics came to consider typical of a Scottish picture.