Spice Valley Middle School is to be renamed T.N. Tatem Middle School in honour of its original principal, the late Thomas Neville Tatem.

Education Minister Randy Horton made the announcement in the House of Assembly on Friday, and paid tribute to Mr. Tatem who was made an MBE for services to education.

He told MPs that Bermuda had lost “one of its beloved sons — a man who exemplified those qualities that we sometimes say are in short supply today: dignity, compassion, discipline and above all, integrity”.

Said Mr. Horton: “He was, in my estimation, and I know that I am not alone in this, an example of a truly great Bermudian.”

He said Mr. Tatem, of Somerset, had taught him at the Berkeley Institute 50 years ago when he was a deputy principal and teacher of arithmetic.

Mr. Horton said Mr. Tatem served as “the quintessential role model”, embodying the highest standards of teaching, character, service, discipline and scholarship. “For every generation of Berkeleyites, the name Thomas Neville Tatem, T.N.T., or dynamite, will be forever associated with strict discipline. He demanded the highest standards of his students in this area and would, on occasion, like ignited dynamite, seemingly explode when students misbehaved or otherwise disappointed him. Yet, he always discharged his responsibilities as a master disciplinarian with fairness, compassion and understanding,” said Mr. Horton.

Mr. Tatem went on to become the founding principal of Warwick Secondary School in the late 1960s. Mr. Horton then took on the principalship in 1976.

“Bermuda’s education system generally owes so much to this giant of a man,” said Mr. Horton.

“After hearing of such an exemplary man, there can be no more fitting tribute to the distinguished memory and outstanding accomplishments of T.N. Tatem than the renaming of Spice Valley Middle School, formerly Warwick Secondary School, to the T.N. Tatem Middle School with effect from September 1, 2007.

“Renaming the school seems the least the entire Bermuda community can do to honour Mr. Tatem for a life of service, for a life richly lived, for a life-long effort to make our Island home a much better place for all.

“I might add, that the renaming of the school is in keeping with this Government’s commitment to ensuring not just that the deserving are honoured, but also to ensure that our young people are conscious of those on whose shoulders they stand.”