Education Greater Manchester head Drew Povey banned from teaching

A former head who found fame on the television series Education Greater Manchester has been banned from teaching over “failing to prevent” off-rolling and unsafe attendance record-keeping six years ago.

A teacher misconduct panel ruled Povey failed to protect pupils from the “risk of potential harm” by causing the amendment of pupil data to show pupils attended school when they had not, and by failing to properly record pupils leaving during the school day.

Povey was suspended, and later resigned, from Harrop Fold school over the off-rolling in July 2018.

A ruling by the Teaching Regulation Agency, published today, has now banned Povey from teaching “indefinitely”, ruling that his actions “constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute”.

Povey said while “administrative mistakes” were made “on my watch”, he will “never accept that I was involved in any deliberate plan to off-roll or to change attendance data”.

He is considering appealing the ban to the high court.

Head ‘failed to prevent’ off-rolling

The panel ruled Povey had “failed to prevent” off-rolling.

An investigation found three pupils were removed from the school’s roll ahead of the January school census in 2018 before being added back on a short time later.

It meant their exam results did not count towards the school’s overall performance.

Emails seen by the TRA panel show staff discussing “removing some of our worst performing year 11s so that they don’t count on results”.

The panel “was satisfied that the removal of these pupils from the roll was likely to have a positive effect, however marginal, on the school’s performance data, including GCSE results and meeting the minimum floor standards for schools.

“Accordingly, the panel concluded that the school’s actions in removing the pupils amounted to ‘off-rolling’.”

The panel “noted that there was no evidence of Drew Povey’s direct involvement in the decision to ‘off-roll’ the pupils concerned. However, in his written statement, he accepted that he had failed to prevent the ‘off-rolling’.”

Attendance data amended

The panel also found Povey had “caused the amendment of pupil attendance data” on the school’s management information system “to represent that one or more pupils attended school when he knew or ought to have known that in fact they had not”.

A witness reported that SIMS data showed “around 600 register marks originally made between January 1, 2018, and April 30, 2018, were changed” on May 18 of that year, days before the deadline for schools to submit their summer census data.

The original marks were “predominantly unauthorised absences”, and the panel “considered it implausible that all of the amendments made on one day immediately prior to submission of the May census were genuine corrections”.

During the investigation, witnesses reported having been told to make attendance “look better”, and that Povey had wanted to see attendance increase from 92 to 94 per cent.

The panel ruled the amendments “were made for the purpose of presenting an attendance figure that was higher than actually achieved by the school” – and Povey signed off the census.

Pupils sent home early

The panel also found Povey “failed to ensure that pupils being sent home was recorded in the appropriate manner”.

The school had a “no exclusions” policy, but Povey accepted “that pupils were sent home during the school day”.

He said the school “made the decision that these pupils were genuinely not mentally well enough to be in school and needed to take some time to get themselves in a good place to return to school”.

But government guidance states that “informal” or “unofficial” exclusions, such as sending pupils home “to cool off” are “unlawful, regardless of whether they occur with the agreement of parents and carers”.

The panel “heard conflicting evidence about the nature and frequency of pupils being sent home. At one extreme, it was said that pupils were regularly sent home, including by being pushed out of a fire exit without parents being contacted.

“At the other extreme, reference was made to a very exceptional practice of sending pupils home at or just before the end of the school day after their parents had been contacted.”

‘Dishonest’ conduct

The panel ruled Povey’s conduct “lacked integrity and/or was dishonest”, and that his actions “constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute”.

“The findings of misconduct are serious as they include a teacher failing to protect pupils from risk of potential harm, as well as conduct which lacked integrity and was dishonest.”

The panel found Povey had “very limited knowledge of relevant statutory guidance and requirements”, and there was “little evidence that he had taken steps to address this lack of knowledge”.

For these reasons “the panel could not discount the possibility of the conduct being repeated”.

Marc Carvey, making a decision on behalf of the education secretary, said it was “necessary to impose a prohibition order in order to maintain public confidence in the profession.”

The ruling pointing out that “extreme caution was required when considering memories of witnesses” as matters were seven years ago, one of the longest TRA cases.

High court challenge mulled over ‘hearsay evidence’

The panel also said it “recognised that it was dealing with a large volume of hearsay evidence”, which was assessed with a “critical eye”.

But Andrew Faux, the barrister representing Povey, said: “The panel’s decision was very disappointing and relied to a troubling extent on hearsay evidence. We are considering carefully the right of appeal to the High Court.”

Povey said he was “deeply saddened” by the decision.

“My whole career in education was about supporting kids from tough backgrounds and helping them develop their self-belief and resilience – it was never about results or how data looked,” he said.

“Nor should it ever be and school leaders have a moral responsibility to guard against being drawn down that path.

“Every leader, every teacher, every single person who works in schools has a duty of care to every child, with all their brilliance and all their complexities – and whilst this has been a painful and drawn out process for me personally – they are the only ones who matter in all of this.”

Povey brother also banned from teaching

Povey’s brother, Ross Povey, former deputy at the school, has been banned from teaching for two years.

He was also found to have failed to prevent off-rolling and failed to ensure pupils were recorded as having been sent home before the end of the day.

Both can apply for their bans to be set aside in two years.

Not outcome has been published for fellow ex-deputy head Jennifer Benigno.