Reality TV star head quits over ‘vendetta’
THE headteacher from the Educating Greater Manchester TV series has quit his job – claiming the local council has a ‘personal vendetta’ against him.
In a letter posted on Twitter yesterday, Drew Povey said he resigned following his suspension from Harrop Fold school in Salford.
Mr Povey became a reality TV star after Channel 4 filmed the fifth series of the ‘Educating’ programmes there last year. He was suspended in July along with three other senior staff members amid an investigation.
Salford city council has not confirmed the reason but Mr Povey said they related to ‘ administrative errors’. The erstwhile head yesterday revealed the school was accused of ‘deliberately “off-rolling” students and coding attendance incorrectly’ as well as encouraging parents to home-school ‘difficult’ children.
Off- rolling is when children expected to perform poorly in exams are taken off the register, giving the impression a school is doing better academically than it really is.
Mr Povey insisted he had done nothing wrong saying he was ‘fundamentally opposed’ to off-rolling.
However, ‘administrative errors’ involving how ‘attendance, exclusions and home schooling’ were recorded had affected 11 pupils in the last three years. Mr Povey said he took full responsibility for the errors but felt subject to a ‘personal vendetta’ and accused the council of taking a ‘heavy-handed’ approach.
He said he would not go quietly and would not accept a financial settlement to keep silent.
He also claimed the council had previously offered him money to ‘walk away’. In 2004, Harrop Fold was branded one of the worst schools in the country. Under Mr Povey – who became head in 2010 – it was graded as ‘good’ by Ofsted.
Lisa Stone, Salford council’s lead member for children and young people’s services, said: ‘The council completely refutes the allegation this is a personal vendetta or that Mr Povey was ever offered money to “walk away”.’ She said senior staff were not usually suspended over ‘mere administrative errors’ and that the investigation would continue until a conclusion is reached.