The board of governors at a Wood Green primary school resisting being forced into an academy has been removed and replaced by a Government-approved board.

The Department for Education (DfE) confirmed that governors at Nightingale Primary School in Bounds Green Road had been removed and an ‘interim executive board’ had been put in place after the current board refused to voluntarily convert to academy status.

The school is one of four that Education Secretary Michael Gove wants to force into accepting a private sponsor and converting into an academy, and was given a deadline of February 3 to agree.

In a statement, the DfE said: “Nightingale Primary School needs significant improvement. Ofsted have raised concerns over the low attainment, attendance, management and governance of the school.

“We have therefore decided to appoint an interim executive board to give the school the leadership and expertise it needs to improve.

“It is anticipated that this board will consult on whether the school should convert into a sponsored academy. We consider the strong external challenge and support from an academy sponsor to be the best way to improve schools that are consistently underperforming.

“Academies have already turned around hundreds of struggling secondary schools across the country and are improving their results at twice the national average rate.”

The school was given a ‘notice to improve’ – one of the worst ratings – after an inspection by Ofsted in October.

The three governors appointed by the DfE to consult parents on whether the school should become an academy have a history of involvement in underperforming schools, including the managing director of the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), Richard Bassett.

AET announced earlier this week that it would become the sponsor of nearby Noel Park Primary School, and runs 20 academies in the capital since being set up in 2008.

The chair of the new board will be Deborah Absalom, who recently retired as the director of children’s services at Bexley Council, and Nick Ratcliffe, who is a senior manager in the education advisory practice at KPMG.

Haringey Council have been invited to submit its own nominations to the board.

Last week, Coleraine Park Primary School in Glendish Road reluctantly agreed to become an academy, following the same move by Noel Park Primary School in Gladstone Avenue a week earlier.

The headteacher of Downhills Primary School, Leslie Church, resigned before half-term after an Ofsted inspection demanded by campaigners placed the school into special measures. The school also faces forced conversion.

More than 1,000 protestors marched from Downhills to Haringey Civic Centre last month to show their opposition to the plans.