A mother says her son was raped by a fellow student at a school and that the Education Department told her to keep the attack secret.

She says her son was just 11 years old when he was attacked in the toilet block of a regional primary two years ago, and that the 13-year-old perpetrator was arrested and given a three-year suspended sentence.

She says she contacted the Education Department straight away, when Premier Jay Weatherill was minister.

“I’m not sure whether I was told at the time, I certainly do know that it’s been recently brought to my attention,” Mr Weatherill said in Parliament today.

The victim’s mother says the Department’s regional director asked her to keep the attack secret.

She has received five letters from him, the first five weeks after the attack.

“I asked for specialised counseling for my son,” she said.

“And his reply to that was we would fund three to four visits… but I would have to sign indemnity.”

She says other parents at the school still haven’t been told about the incident, and she believes there could even be other victims.

“Even the teachers at the school were told it was a bullying incident,” she said.