Disgraced Colne headteacher is back in business (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Disgraced Colne headteacher is back in business

1:29pm Monday 23rd July 2012 in News By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

A HEADTEACHER is free to take charge of a school again after conditions were lifted on his professional status.

Peter Cunningham, formerly head of Sacred Heart RC Primary in Colne, was found guilty of professional misconduct by the General Teaching Council last September.

He was hauled before the watchdog after the school was forced to repay £80,000 in unpaid VAT and question marks were raised over the mixing of school funds and a holiday club’s accounts.

He was allowed to continue as a teacher providing that he did not hold any position of financial responsibility.

But he applied for the conditions to be reviewed and the Teaching Agency, the successor to the GTC, has agreed that he should now have a clean slate.

A Teaching Agency spokesman said that Mr Cunningham was entitled, a year after the previous sanction, to ask for a formal review.

She added: “He has not been cleared of the charges of professional misconduct and the findings of the original hearing have not been revoked.

“In light of new evidence, regarding his conduct since the case, the conditions regarding his registration have now been revoked.”

Since the case Mr Cunningham, of Skipton Road, Colne, has obtained a masters degree in school leadership which he recently picked up at Preston’s Guild Hall.

He added: “I now cannot wait to return to the school environment where I believe my commitment to education can be most usefully deployed in helping develop the potential and shape the lives of young people.”

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