Head teacher banned for pay rise 'eyesight' trick

A head teacher has been banned from his profession for tricking a colleague "with poor eyesight" into signing off a £19,000 pay rise.

David Bishop-Rowe, 61, taught at Sutton School and Specialist College in Dudley from 2002 until 2014.

A professional conduct panel heard, external he got the rise in 2013-14 without the governors' approval.

Mr Bishop-Rowe was guilty of "serious and sustained dishonesty", a professional misconduct panel found.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership panel heard a colleague who signed off the pay rise - which took Mr Bishop-Rowe's salary to £110,851 - said she "didn't know what she was signing".

They also saw evidence that Mr Bishop-Rowe had carried out private consultancy work during working hours, instructed the deputy head teacher to falsify an invoice and wrongly claimed additional salary payments.

He owned a company called Education Development Consultancy Limited and carried out paid, private work without the governing board's permission.

In December 2013, a whistleblower complaint was made and shortly afterwards the school began an investigation into Mr Bishop-Rowe's behaviour.

He was suspended in April 2014 and resigned the following month.

The school caters for about 160 pupils aged 11-16 with moderate learning difficulties.

In a statement to the panel, a colleague described Mr Bishop-Rowe's 21% pay rise as "absolutely disgusting".

Mr Bishop-Rowe was told by Alan Meyrick, acting on behalf of the Education Secretary Justine Greening, that he was banned from teaching indefinitely and would not be able to apply for restoration.

Mr Meyrick said the fact Mr Bishop-Rowe had offered "some apologies but no reasonable explanation for his behaviour" meant there was a risk of repetition in the future.