Teachers who lost a month's pay when their school ran out of money, have agreed to a pay-off.

The staff from Newlands School in Seaford are now expecting about 84 per cent of wages which were unpaid when the school closed on April 4 due to mounting debts.

They joined all of those owed money at two meetings yesterday with administrators Kroll to arrange a Creditors Voluntary Agreement which would prevent the school's trust going into liquidation.

There will now be a 28-day cooling-off period before administrators can proceed in arranging payments. The school was saved from permanent closure by two parents, Mike Holland and John Summers who are paying at least £700,000 into the agreement.

Emma Hobden, who will be returning as matron at the school, said that staff had voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting the deal.

She said: "It was a very big majority vote. We have to wait three to six months to be paid which is quite a long time for money we're owed and people were a bit cross.

"But I have great confidence in the two parents who have taken the school on. They will not let it fail."

History teacher, Wendy Muller, said they were keen to move on. She said: "We're getting a significantly higher amount than if we had gone into liquidation. There was overwhelming support for the agreement. We are not getting all our money but what can you do?"

Mike Holland, the new joint school owner, said he was pleased the school had now been given the go-ahead.

He said: "Now we can all get on with the business of getting our kids back to school."

He also revealed that a new board of governors was being formed, which would include Brighton and Hove Albion Manager Mark McGhee as Sports Governor.

Headmaster Oliver Price signalled his approval at the decision and said he would be contacting all the staff.

He said: "It's an extremely sensible decision."

He stressed he would only be able to rehire according to the number of pupils signed up to start in September. There are 85 students studying back at Newlands in the Nursery and Sports facilities at the moment. There are 200 students interested in attending in September, down from 450 last year.