21ST APRIL 1961  Fifteen months after the first pupils arrived at the school it was officially opened by Alderman Sir Harold Jackson.  The ceremony was chaired by Alderman A Ballard, who was the Chairman of the Education Committee.  The school choir sang a number of pieces, the last of which was the School Hymn:

    <sup>These things shall be!  A loftier race
    Than e’er the world hath known, shall rise,
    With flame of freedom in their souls
    And light of science in their eyes.

    They shall be simple in their homes
    And splendid in their public ways,
    Filling the mansions of the state
    With music and with hymns of praise.</sup>

    ^{Nation with nation, land with land,
    Inarmed shall live as comrades free;
    In every heart and brain shall throb
    The pulse of one fraternity.}

    ^{New arts shall bloom of loftier mould,
    And mightier music thrill the skies,
    And every life shall be a song,
    When all the earth is paradise.  (J Addington Symonds)}

After the ceremony the guests were treated to tea by the Headmaster and his staff.