Mr Povey bluntly speaks out after being banned from teaching since Educating Manchester
He's not mincing his words
It’s been a while since we last saw Drew Povey on our screens, leading Harrop Fold School in Educating Greater Manchester.
Back then, he came across as a straight-talking head teacher who wasn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and face the challenges that came with running a school in one of Salford’s toughest areas.
Fast-forward to now, though, and Povey’s career has taken a very different turn. It was deemed that he was no longer allowed to teach, and he finally had his say on the whole situation.
Mr Povey was banned from teaching
If you watched Educating Manchester, you’ll remember Mr Povey as something of a TV favourite, a no-nonsense leader with plenty of heart.
But off camera, the school came under huge pressure to improve its stats, whether that was attendance, results, or overall performance. According to investigations, some of the decisions made during his leadership crossed lines.
The Teaching Regulation Agency later ruled that records had been fiddled with, students had been “off-rolled,” and certain attendance marks weren’t accurate.
All of this, they said, put students at risk and gave a false picture of how the school was doing. As a result, Mr Povey was handed a teaching ban. He and his brother Ross, who was assistant head at Harrop Fold, were both caught up in the ruling.
The ban meant Mr Povey’s time in the classroom was officially over, at least for now.
While he could technically apply to have it lifted in the future, the decision left many shocked, especially people who had seen him champion kids who didn’t always get a fair shot in the system.
He was always egging kids on to push themselves and do better. Speaking during one Educating Greater Manchester episode, Mr Povey shared an emotional moment with one student who was worried about passing her exams. He told her: “You are bright… I know enough about life, Shannon, that if somebody with a really good attitude puts enough work in they’ll do well.”
He aired his thoughts years later
In 2024, the TRA found all the allegations to be ‘proven’ and a panel also concluded his actions were ‘deliberate’, per The Manchester Evening News.
He defended his years in education, saying his motivation was never about statistics or looking good on paper: “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.”
Mr Povey also spoke about the duty of care he says is owed to pupils: “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… they are the only ones who matter in all of this.”
He and his brother, Ross, are reportedly considering an appeal, arguing that the panel relied heavily on hearsay evidence and that parts of the decision are problematic.
Per LadBible, Mr Povey’s barrister, Andrew Faux, said he’s now considering appealing the decision at the high court.
He 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.”
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