The long wait continues for the publication of an external validation report into an island primary school, whose head teacher has been absent since the end of June.

Education Minister Daphne Caine told the House of Keys that the report into Rushen Primary School would be published when the external validation process is complete.

Rushen Primary took part in the pilot for the new school validation quality assurance process, with the validation team visiting the school on June 27 and 28.

The head and deputy were seconded to other duties with immediate effect.

Head teacher of Scoill Phurt le Moirrey Simon Murphy took on the additional role of acting head at Rushen Primary on July 1. He will continue in that role until further notice.

Suzanne Owens remains the headteacher of Rushen School.

In the House of Keys this week, Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper asked what the timetable was for the remaining validation reports to be published.

The Minister replied that four secondary schools, 11 primary schools and one educational service, have completed their external validation process so far. Parent information has been published on the individual schools’ website.

But Mrs Caine said two that had taken part in the pilot - Rushen Primary and Thie ny Shee educational services - had not completed the validation process.

In the case of Thie ny Shee this was due to staff absence. The Minister did not elaborate on why Rushen’s validation process had not been completed.

No other schools have waited so long between their inspection and report to be published. Full reports are not published, only a parent information summary.

In a statement, the Department of Education. Sport and Culture said: ‘At this stage there is no timescale for the publication of the external validation information for Rushen Primary School. Once the external validation process is complete it will be published to the school’s website.’

The pilot validation scheme was launched in January last year. Mrs Caine told the Keys that the pilot has now been extended, and it would continue to be carried out on a three-year cycle.

Former education minister Julie Edge queried why the pilot had not been reviewed before the decision was taken to extend it and what had caused the delay in the two reports being published.

Mrs Caine replied: ‘In terms of reports not yet being public with Thie ny Shee at this there is no timescale at this stage as the process is not yet complete due to a period of staff absence. My department hopes to have this published at the beginning of next term.

‘With regard to the external validation visit of Rushen Primary School at this stage there is no timetable for the publication of the information as the process is not complete.’

Mr Hooper questioned whether the parent information documents actually contained any useful information and whether they were ‘any use at all’.

‘I do feel it is a good step forward, how effective it is is down to how much the schools engage,’ replied the Minister.