Drew Povey, a star of Educating Greater Manchester and former headteacher of Harrop Fold in Salford, along with his brother Ross, the assistant head, have been indefinitely banned from teaching.
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) has accused the brothers of 'unacceptable professional conduct' following allegations that students were being removed from the school register, a practice known as 'off-rolling'.
A panel discovered that this removal of pupils likely boosted the school's performance data, including GCSE results. Despite denying all allegations, Mr Povey, who resigned in 2018 after his suspension, has now had all charges against him proven by the TRA.
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This includes failing to maintain accurate records, thereby potentially endangering pupils. His actions were labelled as 'deliberate'.
Ross Povey was accused of failing to maintain or ensure staff maintained accurate records regarding pupil attendance on one or more occasions. He was accused of causing, permitting, or failing to prevent the 'off-rolling' of one or more pupils, amending one or more sets of pupil attendance data on SIMS to show that one or more pupils attended school when they had not, and failing to record that one or more pupils were sent home before the end of the school day.
After Drew's resignation from what is now called Lowry Academy, parents rallied to get him back on the job. At that time, the former head honcho fessed up to a bit of paperwork bungling with some of the students but insisted he was caught in the crosshairs of a 'personal vendetta', reports the Mirror.
His brother, who used to be his right-hand man at the school, was cleared of the charge of amending pupil attendance data, but every other serious allegation against him was upheld. Two TRA prohibition order reports concerning Drew and Ross Povey unequivocally stated: "The panel was satisfied that the conduct of [Mr Povey] amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession. Accordingly, the panel was satisfied that [Mr Povey] was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct," as per the Manchester Evening News.
Even though there was an outpouring of support for Drew, painted as a "kind" bloke, a real "breath of fresh air", it emerged at an October hearing that Drew was a "poor school manager" with "very limited knowledge" of necessary administrative rigour.
The panel determined that the actions of both brothers had compromised the integrity of their profession. The duo have been indefinitely barred from teaching, prohibiting them from working in any school, sixth form college, youth accommodation or children's home in England.
They have the option to appeal this ban, but not until October 30, 2026.
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