An expression of interest form has been submitted to the Department for Children, Schools and Families to consider replacing South Leeds High School with an academy sponsored by a partnership of schools from Garforth.

The paperwork claimed that South Leeds High's governing body had agreed to the expression of interest proposal but the school's headteacher Colin Bell told the Yorkshire Post that governors had not given it their support or even discussed it.

Mr Bell said: "It is true to say that myself and the chair of governors were involved in the initial stages of the expression of interest, but then DCSF representatives took over. We were not kept in the loop in the way that we should have been to such an extent that I had to phone an Education Leeds officer in order to see a copy of it."

A spokesman for Education Leeds, the council-run company which runs the city's schools, said: "The school and the governing body were involved in a meeting in which the DCSF went through the expression of interest form in detail. The box would have been ticked as part of that meeting."

Academies are independently-run state schools introduced by the Government to replace struggling secondaries. An expression of interest to the Government is the first stage of the process for opening an academy.

The form for South Leeds High has been signed by Education Leeds' chief executive Chris Edwards and Paul Edwards, the chief executive of the Schools Partnership Trust – the proposed sponsor for the new academy.

The trust is a partnership between Garforth Community College its feeder primary schools and other agencies such as the Leeds Primary Care Trust.

South Leeds High School was placed in special measures last year by Ofsted and has had an eventful history since it was formed in 2004 with riot police called in twice.