Educating Manchester headteacher Drew Povey and assistant banned from teaching indefinitely

Educating Manchester headteacher Drew Povey and assistant headteacher Ross Povey have been banned indefinitely from teaching.

The two brothers, who previously worked at Harrop Fold school (now called The Lowry Academy) in Greater Manchester rose to prominence after their school was featured on the Channel 4 documentary series Educating... back in 2017.

The school's appearance on the series had been a success, prompting Channel 4 to continue filming for a second series in 2018.

Drew Povey had previously served as headteacher of Harrop Fold school, now called The Lowry Academy (Instagram/drewpovey)

However production would be derailed after Drew resigned from his role as headteacher following allegations of 'off-rolling' students - a practice which sees disadvantaged pupils removed from the school roll prior to taking exams in order to protect the school's reputation - by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

The allegations led to Drew resigning from his position as headteacher, with the outcome of a subsequent misconduct hearing now being made public.

According to the report published by the TRA, the allegations brought against both Drew and Ross included 'failing to maintain and/or ensure that staff maintained accurate records in respect of pupil attendance on one or more occasions', 'caused and/or permitted and/or failed to prevent the off rolling of one or more pupils' and 'failing to protect pupil(s) from the risk of potential harm'.

Drew denied all allegations brought against him while Ross made 'no admissions of the allegations or as to unacceptable professional conduct'.

Ross was cleared of the allegation he had been amending pupil attendance data, however every other charge against him was upheld.

Both brothers have subsequently been banned from teaching (YouTube/OurStories))

The outcome of the hearing has seen the brothers found to have committed 'unacceptable professional conduct'. Findings from the panel stated the decision to remove disadvantaged and struggling pupils from the school roll was likely to have had a positive impact on the school's performance data, which includes GCSE results.

The panel added that both Ross and Drew's actions had undermined the teaching profession.

Both of the brothers' TRA prohibition orders added that: "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."

The brothers have both been banned from teaching indefinitely, which means they are not allowed to work in any school, sixth form, children's home or youth accommodation.

However the brothers are eligible to apply for the ruling to be lifted from 30 October, 2026.