A BRADFORD secondary school is set to appoint a new governing body next year in its bid to progress out of special measures.

Carlton Bolling College in Undercliffe received the lowly rating from Ofsted last July, with its board of governors sacked following an inspection that judged the school to be inadequate.

Bradford Council appointed an Interim Executive Board (IEB) to govern the school, with Ofsted noting in its most recent inspection in May that the board had made improvements and was focused on removing the college from special measures "as soon as is feasible".

A new governing body will now be put together to initially shadow the IEB from September, before taking over full responsibility for the school from January next year.

Councillor Faisal Khan (Independent, Bradford Moor), one of the governors who was removed from the school, last night claimed decisions have already been made on the make-up of the new body - including the reappointment of some governors who were removed.

In response, the Council has insisted that no formal decisions have been made.

Michael Jameson, strategic director of children's services at Bradford Council, said: "Carlton Bolling has an Interim Executive Board in place governing the school, appointed by the Council.

"Ofsted has judged that this Board has contributed to the school's recent progress, and we thank them for their commitment to the school and its students.

"Given that this board is temporary by its nature, then the Council will start to look for a new governing body, however these new governors have not yet been appointed.

"The new governing body will not take over responsibility for the school until January 2016."

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council's executive member for education, added: "Carlton Bolling is progressing well as a school and has strong ambitions for its young people.

"It’s important that a strong governing body is established to take over from the good work done by the Interim Executive Board and the Council will work with the school to make sure this is in place.

"Our young people deserve the best start in life."

The Council said it was "confident" that leadership and management at the school was now "good", with a priority being to return the college to community governance, and for the quality of the governance to be maintained.

It said the new shadow governing body would be appointed using guidance from the Department for Education, aiming to find people who could add "real value" to the leadership of the school.

Cllr Khan said he maintained a view that the removal of the previous governing body was "politically-motivated."

He claims to have seen a document in which former governors had already been "hand-picked" to return as part of the new governing body.

"We need an explanation of the selection process, and why some governors who were deemed not fit to represent the school are now being singled out and reappointed," he said.

In response, the Council said the list of eight names, seen by the Telegraph & Argus, might have come from a "discussion document", adding it was premature to suggest that it would constitute the make-up of the new body.

A spokesman said: "It's the local authority's sole responsibility to appoint to the shadow governing body, and we've not yet made any decisions on members."