Drew Povey, the headteacher who became a TV star with the Channel 4 series Educating Greater Manchester, has resigned.

The executive headteacher of Harrop Fold School in Salford was suspended in July.

In a letter posted on Twitter this morning, Mr Povey announced that he had resigned and revealed that his school had been accused of “deliberately ‘off-rolling’ students and coding attendance incorrectly”.

He said that it came to light in January that two to three pupils had been incorrectly coded as “off-roll”, and that this had happened in each of the past three years.

He said this had a “negligible” impact on exam results, and schools did not gain financially because of the errors.

Mr Povey wrote that he was “fundamentally opposed to off-rolling and condemns it as a practice”.

“I maintain that whilst there may have been errors made, these are administrative errors, involving only a tiny percentage of our school cohort,” his letter said.

He had been told about “discrepancies in how students who are educated off-site are being recorded”.

He said he always encouraged attendance to be as high as possible, “but that has never included asking colleagues to falsify evidence”.

The letter added: “If there have been discrepancies then I anticipate that these will be as a result of administrative error, and nothing more”.

It described accusations that the school was “deliberately encouraging parents to home-school ‘difficult’ children” as “completely untrue”.

The letter added that the school was accused of inappropriately coding pupils who were sent home early for poor behaviour.

Mr Povey said the school did sometimes let a pupil go home early if they were behaving “particularly poorly”.

He said the school did not code these as formal exclusions because it was “always done in agreement with the parents - unlike formal exclusions”.

Educating Greater Manchester star: ‘Victim of personal vendetta’

Mr Povey said he took full responsibility for the off-rolling “errors”, but added: “I do not believe they constitute grounds for me to be pursued in the way that I have been.”

“This feels very much like a personal vendetta and I hope that by removing myself from the situation that some semblance of normality will return to the school, for the benefit of all,” the letter says.

He said that the investigation that led to his suspension was first mentioned informally in January, discussed with the local authority in March, and formalised as an investigation in May.

The investigation process had “been allowed to drag on, causing damage to the reputation of the school and to me personally”, with speculation about why he and three colleagues had been suspended.

Mr Povey said he was “at a loss to understand the ‘heavy handed’ approach adopted by the council”.

Mr Povey said the school had had to close for one day in the summer term because of disruption caused by the investigation process.

“I cannot sit back whilst this continues, particularly given the progress we have made as a school and within the community,” he wrote.

“Rather than allow further damage to be caused, with the ongoing uncertainty and delay, I have taken the decision to step down.”

Mr Povey became a reality TV star after Channel 4 filmed the fifth series of the “Educating…” programmes at his school.

In January the broadcaster announced that it would film two more series at the school - the first time it had returned to the same location.

Today Channel 4 said it was awaiting the outcome of the investigation before making a decision about the future of the series.

In his letter, Mr Povey said the biggest barrier to improving the school since he arrived in 2005-06 had been “the shocking level of debt that had been allowed to mount up whilst the school was under Salford City Council’s direction”.

He said advice from experts had been that the school would be unable to keep repaying the debt, and that it should be written off, but “this advice was ignored”.

He said he had reduced the debt from more than £3 million to £1.6 million now, through fundraising, and his additional work in the public and private sectors, as well as the filming of Educating Greater Manchester.

In his letter, he offers to work “on a completely pro-bono basis to support the school for one or two days a week over the coming school year” while longer-term leadership was put in place.

He admitted this was “a rather unorthodox offer”, but added that wanted to “stress my ongoing commitment and willingness to support Harrop”. He said he would continue to cooperate with the investigation.

Mr Povey said it had been suggested he walk away with a financial settlement, which would include gagging clauses to stop him speaking out, and criticised the “vast expense” of the investigation.

He suggested this money would be better spent in helping to pay off the school’s debt.

In July, the school’s chair of governors, Anne  Boyson, told parents that the situation was “confidential”, and added: “It wouldn’t be right or fair on the individuals concerned for any further information to be shared.”

Tes contacted Harrop Fold School for comment and was referred to Salford City Council. 

The authority’s lead member for children’s and young people’s services, Councillor Lisa Stone, said: “I am disappointed that Mr Povey has made public some details of a confidential governor’s investigation.

“The council completely refutes the allegation that this is a personal vendetta or that Mr Povey was ever offered money to ‘walk away’. In my experience, governors do not launch investigations and suspend senior members of staff for mere administrative errors.

“This is an in-depth and wide-ranging investigation into many serious allegations and it will continue in the interests of the school, pupils, parents and the members of staff who remain suspended.

“The governing body is trying to reach a conclusion as quickly as possible. It is in no one’s interests to rush through something so serious.

“The council has arranged temporary leadership support for the school during this difficult period.”