Rushen Primary School has a familiar face as its new permanent head teacher.

Simon Murphy, head teacher of Scoill Phurt le Moirrey, had taken on the additional role of acting executive head at Rushen Primary for the past year.

But now he has announced that he will be the executive head teacher for both schools on a permanent basis.

In a letter to parents, Mr Murphy said: ‘I am happy to announce that I have been officially appointed to the position of executive head teacher for both Rushen Primary School and Scoill Phurt le Moirrey on a permanent basis.

‘I have really enjoyed getting to know the community, the families and the children as well as working alongside the caring and committed teachers and staff within the school.

‘The next step for me in this journey with the school will be to appoint a permanent head of school for Rushen Primary to support me and the team in developing the school further.’

Mr Murphy was brought in after the then head Suzanne Owens and deputy Miss H Wardman were seconded to other duties with immediate effect in July last year.

Their secondment came just days after an inspection team visited Rushen Primary as part of the new school validation quality assurance process.

In a letter to parents on the first day of term, Mr Murphy said the Department of Education, Sport and Culture has confirmed the deputy head retired on August 31 - while Ms Owens will be leaving the department at the end of the year.

For the remainder of her service, Ms Owens will be seconded to the National Association of Head Teachers, undertaking her union duties as branch secretary for the Isle of Man and North West region.

A new full-time head teacher was advertised with a salary of between £77,513 and £89,583.

Rushen Primary had 232 pupils on its roll last year, making it the eighth largest primary school in the island.

The report of the validation inspection has still not been published on the school’s website.