Former Manchester primary school headteacher struck off after ‘assisting’ pupils during SATs

A former executive headteacher of a Manchester primary school has been struck off after “excessively assisting” pupils with their SATS.

The Manchester Evening News reports that Michael Beresford was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct after admitting to helping students at Oasis Academy Temple (formerly the Temple Primary School) in Cheetham Hill with their SATS in May 2018.

Some pupils were told how to answer questions and to correct wrong answers, while others taking a reading test were allowed to read the passages from the papers before the exam had started.

Mr Beresford told a professional conduct panel earlier this month that while he had no specific memory of the incidents, he recalled “coming away from desks blushing as if I knew I had done something wrong”.

It was ruled that his actions showed “disregard for the significant potential risk to the pupils’ academic future” and caused “damage to the school” in terms of its reputation.

Despite support from parents and former colleagues – who described him as a “role model” – Mr Beresford was banned from teaching indefinitely.

Allegations initially arose following conversations between pupils and staff at the school, and Manchester City Council was asked to investigate the claims and pass its findings on to the Standards and Testing Agency (STA).

A total of eight allegations were made against Mr Beresford, and all but one were upheld by the panel.

In a statement, the panel said: “The academic achievements of pupils are at the heart of the teaching profession [and] Mr Beresford completely undermined these fundamental principles.

“The panel recognised the level of responsibility that came with his position as executive principal and Mr Beresford’s role in improving standards in the school, rather than undermining them, [so] accordingly, the panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that a prohibition order should be imposed with immediate effect.”

Mr Beresford could apply for the prohibition order to be set aside – but not until 2023.

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