A Catford school which grossly overspent its budget was awarded a staggering £1. 1 million deficit.

Sedgehill School, along Sedgehill Road, was awarded a £1,148,000 deficit and its five year recovery plan approved by the Mayor at a Lewisham Council meeting last night (June 3).

Any deficits above £500,000 must be approved by the mayor with five years the maximum time frame allowed for secondary schools to run a deficit.

The shortage of funds stems primarily from overspends in staff salaries, but is partly due to the school being a third empty.

Alan Docksey, head of resources for children and young people, said: “The decision to employ staff from September was not reflected in the forecast.

“Reports that the team were producing were only covering two or three areas concerned and not the whole budget.

“Future budget reports will cover all areas of spending.”

MORE TOP STORIES The extent of the shortfall was only unearthed when the council appointed an interim executive board (IEB) in January, revealing the school overspent by £906,000 for the 2014/15 financial year.

The previous board only projected a small overspend of around £45,000.

Due to the late discovery, there was insufficient time to serve notice periods for staff for the start of the academic year 2015.

As ‘significant’ staff savings cannot be achieved until 2016/17, the recovery plan is five years rather than the average three years.

Staff ‘adjustments’ will cover teaching, admin and support staff, but the school has also identified savings of £1.2 million.

Parents and pupils previously hit out over the budget cuts, which have seen some A-Level courses "under review".

But Mr Docksey stated they were working with the school to ensure the curriculum is safeguarded.

Further plans include attracting more pupils, as for each student the school receives a basic entitlement of £6,700.

Coun Paul Maslin, cabinet member for children and young people, added: “It’s absolutely vital that we get the school to be popular, full and bringing in money. It’s a third empty.

“If we get the school to be popular and full it will be easy to deal with the deficit because the more pupils in school the more money the school has."