The Headmaster's welcome at the opening of the Curtis Smith Centre:

Every single school I have either attended as a pupil, or as a teacher, has always had a strong collection of portacabin type buildings.  I was delighted that, in honour of my arrival as Headmaster of Shoreham College, the last remaining ones here were replaced by a big hole in the ground!  It was even more exciting, during my first year, to see the building grow out of the ground and end up with the fantastic facility that we now have.

Perhaps more importantly, the new centre gave me an opportunity to take a fresh look at the roomings in the college and bring departments closer together.  There is a greater clustering for the junior classrooms now, while still keeping that strong integration with the senior part of the college that makes us so unique.  And, as well as giving design technology state of the art resources in their two splendid rooms, I have been able to put my entire maths department together on the top corridor of the Curtis Smith Centre.

I would like to say a huge thank you on behalf of the College to our architects Miller Bourne, our builders W Stirland Ltd and to the governors for having the vision.  Particular personal thanks to our General Manager Ashley Warner who made sure I didn’t have to get my hands dirty!

I would like to mention briefly why the building is named the Curtis Smith Centre.  Those of you who have a chance to look at the plaque later will see that it is actually named after two important individuals in the college’s history.

Cecil Smith was an Old Shorehamer, who attended what was then Shoreham Grammar with his brother, under the Headmastership of Mr Gregory Taylor.  A keen sportsman he went on to work for Midland Bank, but took a keen interest in the progress of the college.  Though sadly his own children died very young, he worked on the assumption that they would have come to Shoreham College and therefore was very involved in the Parents’ Association as well as fundraising for the college choir.  He was a frequent visitor, always keen to get involved and support progress, and also a generous benefactor.  He is survived by his widow, Phyllis.

The other half of the name comes from Hugh Curtis, who I was fortunate enough to meet in the early stages of me joining the college.  Hugh joined Shoreham Grammar in 1954, he had many roles including housemaster, PE, science, physics, Director of Music and Housemaster of Rodney House.  He was also one of the key players in the rescue of Shoreham Grammar School and its relocation to our current site.  Although retired in 1979 he was a regular face about the college, right up to the summer before he sadly died in October 2008.  We are delighted to welcome his widow, Mrs Daphne Curtis, here today.

I am also delighted to welcome our MP Tim Loughton, who also has a connection with the college as his grandfather was Headmaster here.  I am delighted that Tim has been able to fit us into his busy schedule.  I have met Tim on a number of occasions and he does not strike me as someone who would count his chickens before they are hatched.  But hopefully he will draw some support from the words of Ben Page, the Head of Ipsos MORI, who spoke at a conference I attended last weekend.  He felt confident that the word “shadow” would soon be removed from Tim’s job title.  We are very lucky to have a local MP who is so in touch with the issues surrounding young people and I thoroughly appreciate the support he has given to the college.  So without further ado I will hand over to Tim for the official bit.