A BOLTON woman has been banned from teaching after lying to school bosses about being sacked from her previous job.

Terasa Pukiello was suspended as deputy headteacher at Cloughside College, a school for young patients of Prestwich Hospital, last year when bosses queried her records.

Ms Pukiello had filled in a form claiming she earned £12,793 more than she actually did in her last role and that she left for a "new challenge" — when she was actually sacked for gross misconduct.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) has held a disciplinary hearing and has banned Ms Pukiello from teaching.

A Bury Local Education Authority spokesman said: "It is a serious matter when teachers do not tell the truth in job applications, and following our investigation we referred the case to the NCTL and the teacher has now been prohibited from teaching.

"It is up to individual schools whether to use an external recruiting agency, and it would appear in this case that the teacher's credentials were not checked with the necessary rigour."

According to the report, Ms Pukiello was working for St Wilfred’s Academy in March 2013 when her mortgage provider contacted the school to query a reference letter.

The letter stated that Ms Pukiello's salary was £33,660 and that she was advancing onto the leadership scale — both lies — and the signature had been forged.

After an internal investigation she was sacked.

On September 9, 2013, Ms Pukiello became temporary deputy headteacher at Cloughside College and applied to for the role permanently.

On her application form, she stated she had worked as an 'assistant head for inclusion' in her previous job, that she earned £44,525 there and that she left "to undertake new challenges."

She got the job at Cloughside, earning at least £43,957.

In March 2014, senior staff at Cloughside called St Wilfred’s Academy and were told about the lies.

Ms Pukiello can challenge the prohibition order in five years.

She was unavailable for comment, but told the NCTL she acted dishonestly and admitted everything the panel accused her of.

Speaking to other media, Ms Pukiello said she was suffering financial problems in 2013 and her house was about to be repossessed and that she cannot believe she acted in the way she did.