THE headteacher of a Ramsbottom primary school who was suspended in June following allegations of exam irregularities has been reinstated.

Mike Duce is expected to return to Peel Brow Primary School within the next two weeks.

The decision to reinstate the head was made at a special meeting of the school's governing body following nearly six months of investigation by the local education authority (LEA) into management irregularities involving the administration of Key Stage 2 SATs test.

But neither the chairman of the school governors, Ms Barbara Jack, nor the borough's chief education officer, Mr Harold Williams, would tell the Bury Times whether Mr Duce had been cleared of any wrong-doing.

Mr Duce, who has worked at Peel Brow for more than 20 years, was asked to leave just weeks after the school of 246 pupils received a glowing Ofsted report in which Government inspectors praised its high academic standard compared to other similar schools. But during the investigation, education bosses decided to scrub the results of a final year maths test.

In a statement issued to parents, Ms Jack said: "A full investigation has been carried out and, after careful consideration of the facts under the school's appropriate procedures, Mr Duce will be returning to duty.

"As is the case following any serious matter, the situation will be appropriately monitored."

The statement added: "The investigation and proceedings were held in the strictest confidence and we are therefore unable to disclose any information on those matters."

Mr Williams said that the decision to reinstate Mr Duce lay entirely with the governing body.

He told the Bury Times: "We were approached to carry out the investigation and presented the results to the governing body who made the decision. The LEA can only offer an advisory role of procedural matters."

He said that the investigation and its findings were confidential.

Mr Duce's planned return to work has been greeted with a mixed response from parents.

Mrs Gill Wilson, who has two children at the school, helped to organise a petition just days after Mr Duce's suspension, demanding he be reinstated.

She said: "I am delighted he will be back at the school. None of us will ever know what happened but as far as I am concerned it is the best thing for the school to have Mr Duce back."

However, another parent who wished to remain anonymous, said: "The only people who know about the facts are the people involved.

"Now he has been allowed to come back to school and no questions have to be asked and none will be answered.

"The headteacher has had all summer off, no doubt on full pay."

Peel Brow Primary School, under Mr Duce's leadership, was the only school in Bury to opt out of state education and become Grant Maintained under the last Tory government. It is now back in Bury's "family of schools" after the Labour government scrapped the scheme.

The Fir Street school now has foundation status, which means it is partly independent and partly under the local authority. In recent years it has achieved "above satisfactory" Ofsted inspections, with an outstanding report published in May.

In it Mr Duce was praised for his leadership skills, and the pupils were said to be achieving satisfactory grades or above, with 11-year-olds achieving above average or well above average marks in science, mathematics and English in the National Curriculum tests.