Tauranga Boys' College is a state secondary school for boys, located on the edge of the downtown area of Tauranga, 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 1,764 students from years 9 to 13 (approx. ages 13 to 18) as of February 2024. 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 Tauranga 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 10-acre (40,000 m) blocks laid out after the Battle of Gate Pā. However, World War II 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. 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 top scholars and New Zealand representative sportsmen, the naming of buildings after former principals and assorted trees and memorials for World War II victims and students who died whilst enrolled.

The College is the holder of the NZSS Boys' First XI Football title, won with a 1–0 victory in the final in Napier on 2 September 2022.

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
• Halberg (black), named after athlete Murray Halberg
• Hillary (yellow), named after mountaineer Edmund Hillary
• Ngarimu (green), named after soldier Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu
• Ngata (white), named after politician Āpirana Ngata
• Rutherford (blue), named after scientist Ernest Rutherford

Notable alumni

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (October 2023)

Academia

• Bryan Gould – 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 – actor
• Malcolm Evans – cartoonist
• Anthony Lapwood – short story writer
• Ian Mune OBE – actor
• Erik Thomson – actor
• Richard O'Brien – 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 – Member of Parliament for the Bay of Plenty (2014–present) and former Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand)

Sport

• Kris Bouckenooghe – NZ Football
• Brendon Bracewell – NZ Cricket
• John Bracewell – NZ Cricket
• Daniel Braid – All Black
• Mick Bremner – All Black
• Peter Burke – All Black
• Peter Burling (born 1991) – Olympic sailor
• Sam Cane – All Black
• Adrian Cashmore – All Black
• John Clark – NZ Rowing – 1972 Olympian
• Stuart Conn – All Black
• Geoff Cotter – NZ Rowing – 1988 Olympian
• Mahé Drysdale (born 1978) – Olympic rower
• Daniel Flynn – NZ Cricket
• Steve Graham – NZ Hockey
• Wayne Graham – All Black
• Andy Hayward – NZ Hockey
• Nathan Harris – All Black
• Jarrad Hoeata – All Black
• Brendon Julian – Australian cricketer
• Greg Kane – All Black
• Tanerau Latimer – All Black
• Tony Lochhead – NZ Football, 2010 Fifa World Cup representative
• Sam Meech (born 1991) – Olympic sailor
• Brent Newdick – NZ decathlete, Commonwealth Games silver medallist
• Jordan Parry – NZ Rowing – 2020 Olympian
• David Rayner – NZ Football
• Aidan Ross – All Black
• Greg Rowlands – All Black
• Jason Saunders (born 1991) – Olympic sailor
• Paul Simonsson – All Black
• Owen Stephens – All Black and Wallaby; rugby union and rugby league
• Roger White-Parsons – NZ Rowing – 1984 Olympian
• Kane Williamson – NZ Cricket
• Royce Willis – All Black