The chief minister will visit the site of Castle Rushen High School next week.

In the House of Keys sitting on Tuesday, Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse asked Education Minister Julie Edge about progress on the secondary school.

The building of the new school was set back recently, with the news that it won’t be completed for the original deadline of March 2027.

Ms Edge said that she will accompany Chief Minister Alfred Cannan to the school next week so they can understand the ’current issues’.

Design work has already cost £900,000 for the school in Castletown.

In August last year, a report found the current building was ’below par’ for students and ’not fit for purpose’.

Construction of new playing fields at the site began in 2019 and Mr Moorhouse asked in the sitting what pipework and associated technology had been installed under the playing fields.

Ms Edge said the pipework had been installed, and with a depth of 2m from the surface the pipes would provide core heating to the development.

She added that the capacity of this energy source was 160KW.

Mr Moorhouse asked what CRHS’s energy bills looked like last year, to which she said the energy costs amounted to £87,000.

Garff MHK and chair of the Isle of Man Climate Change Tranformation Board Daphne Caine asked if it was still a priority for the school to be a sustainable build.

Ms Edge explained that this was still the case.

’It will be compliant with any sustainable policy the government has at the present time,’ she said.