Tauranga Boys' College is a state

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

for boys, located on the edge of the downtown area of

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

, New Zealand. The school was founded in 1946 as Tauranga College, before overcrowding saw the school become single-sex in 1958. The school has a roll of students from years 9 to 13 (approx. ages 13 to 18) as of In 2019 Tauranga Boys' gained the most scholarships in the Bay of Plenty region with 31 scholarships and 6 outstanding scholarships.

History

Secondary education in

began in 1900, with the establishment of a district high school joined with Tauranga School. By the mid-1930s, the buildings were inadequate for use, and a push for a separate secondary school began. In 1937, the education board purchased the motor camp "Hillsdene", originally one of the blocks laid out after the

Battle of Gate Pā The Tauranga campaign was a six-month-long armed conflict in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty region, Bay of Plenty in early 1864, and part of the New Zealand Wars that were fought over issues of land ownership and sovereignty. The campaign was a se ...

. However,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

delayed building on the site until 1944. After two years of building, Tauranga College was opened on 5 February 1946. The college ran until 1958 – due to overcrowding, female students moved to a newly built campus, which was named

Tauranga Girls' College Tauranga Girls' College is a state single-sex girls secondary school in Tauranga, New Zealand. It offers the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, NCEA system of qualifications. The school has a roll of students from years 9 to 13 (a ...

. Male students remained in Tauranga College, which became known as Tauranga Boys' College. The College seeks to honour the past in creating the future. This includes honours boards recognising head students and top scholars and the displaying of memorabilia from old boys who have represented New Zealand. It also has buildings named after former principals and has a living war memorial of totara trees for

victims. There are also memorial trees for staff and students who died whilst at the College. The College won NZSS Boys' First XI Football title, with a 1–0 victory in the final in Napier on 2 September 2022. In 2024 the College had a remarkable year of sporting success. The First XI Hockey, Senior A Volleyball, Senior A Water Polo, Cross Country 6 man and the Sevens Rugby all won their respective senior national titles. The Football First XI were runners-up.

Principals

* 1958–1959: Mr A. G. Nicholson * 1959–1967: Mr G. I. N. Sim * 1967–1971: Mr R. E. K. Barton * 1971–1984: Mr N. D. Morris * 1984–2008: Mr G. S. Young * 2008–2022: Mr R. W. Mangan * 2022–: Mr A. G. Turner

Houses

Tauranga Boys' College has six houses. The houses are all named after prominent New Zealanders. In alphabetical order, they are: *Freyberg (red), named after soldier

Bernard Freyberg Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, (21 March 1889 – 4 July 1963) was a United Kingdom, British-born New Zealand soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, who served as the List of g ...

*Halberg (black), named after athlete

Murray Halberg Sir Murray Gordon Halberg (7 July 1933 – 30 November 2022) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics. He also won gold medals in the 3 miles events at the 1958 and 1962 Com ...

*Hillary (yellow), named after mountaineer

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

*Ngarimu (green), named after soldier Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu *Ngata (white), named after politician

Āpirana Ngata Sir Āpirana Turupa Ngata (3 July 1874 – 14 July 1950) was a prominent New Zealand statesman. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have served in parliament in the mid-20th century, and is also known for his work in ...

*Rutherford (blue), named after scientist

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both Atomic physics, atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nu ...

Notable alumni

Academia

Bryan Gould Bryan Charles Gould (born 11 February 1939) is a New Zealand-born British former politician and diplomat. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1979, and again from 1983 to 1994. He was a member of the Labour Party's Shadow C ...

– Rhodes Scholar, UK Labour politician & Vice Chancellor University of Waikato * A. Rod Gover – Rhodes Scholar

The arts

* Nigel Brown ONZM – artist * Stuart G. Bugg – international debating *

Shane Cortese Shane Cortese (born 13 August 1968) is a New Zealand actor and singer. He is perhaps best known for his role of Mac on Nothing Trivial, Loki on the Almighty Johnsons and Hayden Peters on the hit show '' Outrageous Fortune''. He was also a runner ...

– actor * Malcolm Evans – cartoonist * Anthony Lapwood – short story writer *

Ian Mune Sir Ian Barry Mune (born 1941) is a New Zealand character actor, director, and screenwriter. His screen acting career spans four decades and more than 50 roles. His work as a film director includes hit comedy ''Came a Hot Friday'', an adaptation ...

OBE – actor *

Erik Thomson Erik Thomson is a Scottish-born New Zealand-Australian actor. He is known for playing Hades in the television series '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', '' Xena Warrior Princess'' and '' Young Hercules'', Dr. Mitch Stevens in '' All Saints' ...

– actor *

Richard O'Brien Richard O'Brien (born Richard Timothy Smith; 25 March 1942) is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has since remained in continuous p ...

– actor and musician * Jeremy Redmore – musician

Public service

* Tuariki Delamere – politician & Commonwealth Games athlete * Air Marshal Sir Bruce Ferguson – KNZM, OBE, AFC Chief of New Zealand Defence Force *

Todd Muller Todd Michael Muller (; born 23 December 1968) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the Leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition from 22 May to 14 July 2020. Muller entered Parliament at the 2014 gen ...

– Member of Parliament for the Bay of Plenty (2014–present) and former

Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand) In New Zealand, the leader of the Official Opposition, commonly described as the leader of the Opposition, is the politician who heads the Official Opposition. Conventionally, they are the leader of the largest political party in the House o ...

Sport

* Riley Bidois – NZ Football – 2024 Olympian * Jonty Bidois – Auckland FC * Kris Bouckenooghe – NZ Football *

Brendon Bracewell Brendon Paul Bracewell (born 14 September 1959) is a former New Zealand Test cricketer. Born in Auckland, he is the younger brother of John Bracewell. He was educated at Tauranga Boys' College and was in the 1st XI from 1974 to 1978. He freque ...

– NZ Cricket *

John Bracewell John Garry Bracewell (born 15 April 1958) is a former New Zealand cricketer who was most recently the coach of the Ireland national cricket team, Irish national team. He played 41 Test cricket, Test matches between 1980 and 1990, as well as 53 O ...

– NZ Cricket *

Daniel Braid Daniel John Braid (born 23 February 1981) is a former rugby union player from New Zealand who captained Sale Sharks in the English Premiership. He played at open-side flanker. Previously, he played for the Blues in Super Rugby. He also won six ...

– All Black * Mick Bremner – All Black * Peter Burke – All Black * Peter Burling (born 1991) – Olympic sailor *

Sam Cane Samuel Jordan Cane (born 13 January 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a flanker for the Japan Rugby League One club Tokyo Sungoliath and the New Zealand national team. He is also the former Captain of the New Zealand n ...

– All Black * Adrian Cashmore – All Black * John Clark – NZ Rowing – 1972 Olympian * Stuart Conn – All Black * Geoff Cotter – NZ Rowing – 1988 Olympian *

Mahé Drysdale Alexander Mahé Owens Drysdale (born 19 November 1978) is a New Zealand politician and retired rower. Drysdale is a two-time Olympic champion and a five-time world champion in the single sculls. He is a seven-time New Zealand national champion ...

(born 1978) – Olympic rower 2008-2016 - Mayor of Tauranga * Peter Drysdale - ND Cricket - Head Boy 2006 * Daniel Flynn – NZ Cricket * Stephen Graham – NZ Hockey *

Wayne Graham Wayne Leon Graham (April 6, 1936 – September 3, 2024) was an American college baseball head coach. He is known for being the head baseball coach for the Rice Owls in Houston, Texas. He coached one College World Series championship team and fi ...

– All Black * Andy Hayward – NZ Hockey * Nathan Harris – All Black *

Jarrad Hoeata Jarrad Hoeata (born 12 December 1983) is a professional rugby union player who plays for New Zealand side Taranaki. He made his debut for the All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the ...

– All Black * Brendon Julian – Australian cricketer * Greg Kane – All Black *

Tanerau Latimer Tanerau Dylan Latimer (born 6 May 1986) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer who plays for the Bay of Plenty. Career Super Rugby Latimer made his Super Rugby debut for the in 2006, before shifting to the in 2007. In 2009 he started at op ...

– All Black *

Tony Lochhead Tony James Lochhead (born 12 January 1982) is a New Zealand former professional footballer who appeared with the New Zealand men's national football team. Early life and education Lochhead was born on 12 January 1982 in Tauranga, New Zealand. ...

– NZ Football, 2010 Fifa World Cup representative *

Sam Meech Sam Meech (born 4 April 1991) is a New Zealand sailor who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Early life Meech was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1991. The sailor Molly Meech is his younger sister; almost exactly two years his jun ...

(born 1991) – Olympic sailor * Brent Newdick – NZ decathlete, Commonwealth Games silver medallist * Jordan Parry – NZ Rowing – 2020 and 2024 Olympian *

David Rayner David Rayner (born 18 March 1982) is an association football player who represented New Zealand at international level. He represented New Zealand Under-17 at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, appearing in all three group games. He also ...

– NZ Football * Aidan Ross – All Black * Greg Rowlands – All Black *

Jason Saunders Jason Saunders (born 22 November 1990) is a New Zealand sailor. Saunders was born in 1990 in Tauranga and received his education at Tauranga Boys' College that he attended with fellow Olympic sailors Sam Meech (born 1991) and Peter Burling (bo ...

(born 1991) – Olympic sailor *

Paul Simonsson Paul Lennart James Simonsson (born 16 February 1967) is a New Zealand former rugby union and rugby league player. A wing, Simonsson represented Waikato and Wellington in rugby union at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand nat ...

– All Black *

Owen Stephens Owen George Stephens (born 9 January 1947), also known by the nickname of "Noddy", is a New Zealand former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He has the distinction of being one of only thre ...

– All Black and Wallaby; rugby union and rugby league * Roger White-Parsons – NZ Rowing – 1984 Olympian *

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand international cricketer and a former captain of the New Zealand national team. On 27 February 2023, Williamson became the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket. ...

– NZ Cricket - Head Boy 2008 *

Royce Willis Royce Kevin Willis (born 28 August 1975 in Tokoroa) was an international rugby union player who represented New Zealand in 12 matches between 1998 and 2002. Rugby career Willis was educated at Tauranga Boys College where he first began playing ...

– All Black

References

{{Schools in Bay of Plenty Boys' schools in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1958 Secondary schools in the Bay of Plenty Region Schools in Tauranga 1958 establishments in New Zealand