Dear Parents, Caregivers & Friends of the College
 

As communicated earlier in the week, next week will be disrupted with strike action by the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) on Wednesday 29th May.  The College is closed for instruction with supervision.  Your son is not required to attend school.  This communication is detailed below.

Friday 31st May is a Mid-Term Break with the College closed for the day.  This was planned and communicated at the start of the year when Term Dates were published, with no knowledge of the effect industrial action would have on the College.

PPTA has advised of ongoing action should an acceptable offer from the government not materialise, of rolling, regional strikes and an action called "rostering home".  

The schedule for "rostering home" action is:

4th June    Year 9
11th June    Year 10
25th June    Year 11
2nd July    Year 12

On these dates the year groups indicated will not be taught and not expected to be at school.  The proposed "Rolling Regional Strikes" are scheduled for the Western Bay of Plenty and therefore Tauranga Boys' College on Tuesday 18th June.  If this eventuates, the College will manage this in the same way as next Wednesday's strike where we will be "closed for instruction, with supervision".

I acknowledge the disruption and inconvenience this action will cause, but it is beyond our control.  As Principal I am supportive of the campaign by the PPTA and NZEI to improve both the salary and working conditions of teachers.  

In my newsletters I have regularly and consistently highlighted the great work teachers here at Tauranga Boys' College do, both within the classroom and the huge amount of goodwill they exhibit outside the classroom.  They are hard-working professionals, conscientious, focused on growing your sons into good men, while striving to ensure they are equipped with the competencies to achieve in our future society along with the academic qualifications to access the workforce, a career or tertiary education.

Teaching is in a state of crisis and it is time teachers and the education profession were recognised appropriately for the important work they do in educating our children.

National Certificate of Educational Achievement
NCEA Changes

As was announced through the media, changes to NCEA have been finalised after a period of consultation.  Details of the changes are available on-line.   conversation.education.govt.nz/ncea

The Ministry of Education has advised they plan a series of engagements over the next few months throughout the region to engage the community, especially parents and whanau.   I will advise you in due course of these opportunities to gain greater understanding of the changes to curriculum delivery, teaching and learning and assessment here at Tauranga Boys' College that will result due to these changes to our qualification.  Note, the indicative timeline has 2023 to 2025 signalled for full implementation of the changes through to NCEA Level 3.

As per my communication earlier this week ....
 

STRIKE ACTION BY POST PRIMARY TEACHERS ASSOCIATION (PPTA) WEDNESDAY 29TH MAY    

As you are probably aware via the media, on Wednesday 29th May, members of the PPTA are withdrawing their services and striking.

As a result, the Board of Trustees has decided that Tauranga Boys’ College will be closed for instruction, with supervision.  This means the normal programme of teaching and learning will not operate at the College.

Your son is not required to attend school on Wednesday 29th May.   

As the College has a small number of teachers who are not members of the PPTA, we will provide supervision for your son if you require it.  

Please email tbc@tbc.school.nz if you require supervision of your son for the day. We will only provide supervision for your son if you request this.  Note that it is important your son brings some material, work or a device that will engage him for the day as our role will be supervision only and to ensuring his health and safety.   If you have requested supervision and your son does not turn up to school on the day we will  treat this as an absence from school.

Transport:
School Hopper buses will not operate, but Rural buses and Bay Hopper Services will operate.

I do apologise for any inconvenience this disruption may cause which is beyond my control.


Robert Mangan
PRINCIPAL

Manu Kōrero Speech Competitions

The following boys will represent Tauranga Boys' College at the up coming Regional  Manu Kōrero Speech competition on the 31 May at Bethlehem Baptist Church. They all have succeeded in our in-school competition coming first in each category after scrutiny from the judging panel.

Kia mokori ai koutou katoa - We wish them all good fortune as they prepare for the competition ahead.

pictured below:
Senior English - Paatua Harawira (centre)
Junior English - Hemi Tulemau (left)
Junior Māori - Tupaea Mika (right)

International Assembly

Congratulations to our International students who presented at our International Assembly last Friday.  One of our International Head Boys, Linus Dieter from Germany, led the assembly with each representative from the various countries outlining the differences in their country to New Zealand, and elaborating on their experiences here at Tauranga Boys' College.  These boys did exceptionally well, presenting to the full school assembly in English, and were fine ambassadors of their country.

Pictured below from left: Matthew Kim, Mario Soares Ramos, Michael Ren, Joshua Zhang, Linus Dieter, Niklas Huth

It's a real sport! Teamwork, training, blood and tears all went into the preparation for the 2019 Super 8 Competition.  Our teams consisted of many new players, however, we again managed to win both the Junior and Senior titles. The Senior Team was lead by Andre Moffat and included Ethan Lawn, Tobias Langdon, Mitchell Sigley and Reuben Stephens. Such a fine balance of comedy, brains and exceptional good looks was transparent in their performances, which only improved as each round progressed. The teams would like to thank competing schools for the high standard of competition, and our own TBC students whose support in the audience was invaluable. 

The Pasifika Performance Group trained hard in preparation for the annual Super 8 competition, giving up many of their lunch times and after school sessions to prepare.  We were lucky enough to get Rosetti Manutulila come on board as a Performance Tutor this year, and he made sure the boys had a polished performance. This year we had a mix of Year 9 through to Year 12 students, and our performance consisted of both Samoan and Tongan pieces. The boys did the College proud and placed third out of the eight Super Eight schools.

Ms Kristy Davison
Pasifika Tutor

Junior Theatre Sports:

We took 5 young thespians (Jacques Van Rinsvelt, Kalani Vieira-Gall, George Rawlinson, Jedidiah Macmillan, Jackson Gilbert) down to Palmerston North, for many of them it was their first ever Theatre Sports competition. Nerves were running high as their most experienced player (Jacques) was unavailable for our final do or die scene. But the lads prevailed, putting together a fantastic scene to clinch the win 26 points to 24.

Mr Conor Dykes
Theatre Sports

Super 8 Drama

23 boys performed the Sheilah Winn Hamlet scene in this year's Super 8 Drama Festival. The piece included a jazz combo and human puppets to put a new spin on the Mousetrap play within the play, which Hamlet puts on to trap his uncle. The puppets were played by Luke Stamatakos and Cameron Alers, handled by Alan Martinez-Valencia and Dominic Hahunga. Due to some actors from the Sheilah Winn piece not being able to attend the weekend, junior students Kalani Vieira-Gall, Jackson Gilbert and Jedidiah Macmillan jumped in to the clown performance and did a great job. The boys had great fun performing the piece again and were awarded 2nd place at the festival. 

Senior Debating. 
Our team consisting of James Ngamoki, Alex Jenkin and team captain Samuel Britain went up against a strong Palmerston North team in the first round, debating the merits of internet anonymity. While a close debate, with James Ngamoki performing particularly well at first speaker, Palmerston North ultimately prevailed and went on to win the whole competition. Last year's captain Kale Adair, fresh from winning the national Trophy University Debating Tourney, returned to coach our seniors for the competition and we look to improve next year as our promising young speakers develop their skills.  
 

Junior Debating
This year our Junior Debating team, consisting of Ethan Duck, Tom Eade, Prabh Sangha, and Peter Gedye, placed fourth. They had the opportunity to debate that we should not increase government surveillance within our society, that the internet should be a human right, and that universal freedom of movement should exist. The boys utilised their wit and critical thinking while exemplifying poise and confidence over the two days. 
 

Oratory
The standard of Oratory at the 2019 Super 8 Cultural Festival was outstanding. Boys spoke on a variety of issues, showing a mature awareness of key issues in our society today. If the standard of speaking and the ideas expressed are anything to go on, our future leadership is in safe hands.  Peter Gedye placed First in the Junior Competition, speaking about the relationship between happiness and success.  He showed us that we have it all wrong, it is not success that causes happiness, but that happiness is what makes us successful. Theo Lefont represented TBC with passion.  He was competing against several Regional and National speech champions, but held his own with his warning on the dangers of Nuclear Arms.  Both boys enjoyed meeting past adversaries and continuing to challenge their own personal goals. 
 

Chess
Tauranga Boys’ College were well represented in a gruelling 120 games of competitive chess over a 24 hour period. A 3rd place finish was a deserved outcome for a young team, which will only get better.   MVPs for the College were Md Shahmat Mahin and Jun Yun. Jun Yun took a personal accolade for the tournament by defeating the No. 1 ranked NZ chess player in his field during the last round.
Mr Danny Warrilow
 

Music
This years Super 8 Music competition was very very competitive.  We entered James Robinson in to the Senior Solo competition and Logan McDonald in to the Junior section.  Both played very difficult and demanding pieces but were not successful in gaining a top 3 place. The Group Music section was just as demanding with schools entering rock groups, big bands and bag pipe ensembles. Having such a wide variety is a difficult task for judges but in the end it was an even split for 1st and 2nd place between Tauranga Boys' College  and Palmerston North Boys'.   Our Big Band were placed 2nd.

Mr John Page
Director of Arts

pictured below:
1. Peter Gedye 
2. & 3. Jun Yun and Md Shahmat Mahin 
4. James Robinson 
5. Logan McDonald
6. Big Band
7. Group Photo

CROSS COUNTRY

House Results from the Tauranga Boys' College Cross Country Event held Wednesday 8th May

1st    Hillary House
2nd    Halberg House
3rd    Freyberg House
4th    Ngarimu House
5th    Rutherford House
6th     Ngata House

See below for boys in action.  More photos follow at the end of this newsletter.

Congratulations to all of our competitors

Senior Boys:  1st  3 Man Team

Thomas Friskney 4th, Oliver Puchner 6th, Joseph Mortimer 7th, Thomas Mahon 19th

Junior Boys: 1st  3 Man Team and 1st  6 Man Team

Micah Pugh 3rd, Louis Fitzjohn 4th, Hayden Collier 6th, Sam Proctor 7th, Matthew Kirkwood 9th, 
Adam Shields 11th, Matthew Hill 16th, Henry Mitchell 18th, Matthew Jefferies 21st, Toby McGuffie 22nd
Nathan Bailey 23rd, James Hollard 25th

Year 9 : 1st  3 Man Team and 1st  6 Man Team

Jackson Jones 4th, Atutahi Downes 5th, Ben Finlayson 7th, Sam Presland 9th, Forbes Hellyer 14th
Jonty Collier 22nd, Thomas Hayden 24th, Andrew Friskney 35th

Incorporating the Tauranga Boys' College Cross Country Championships and the BOP Cross Country Championships, our TBC Champions for 2019 are:

Year 9    Jackson Jones
Junior    Micah Pugh
Senior    Thomas Friskney
 

Tourism 
A group of 70 boys accompanied by Mrs Peddle and Mr Mitchell went over to the NZ School of Tourism in Rotorua last week, to attend a two day ‘taster’ showcasing what studying at this tertiary provider ent

Careers

Pathways to Engineering 
A large group of interested students and their parents attended a symposium on Monday evening facilitated by Waikato University and Industry based Engineers to highlight the pathway and roles involved in Engineering. Mr Damien Galvan (HOD Maths) and Mr Kieran McGirr (Physics) presented the pathways available at Tauranga Boys' College.

Mr Meys and Ms Jones took a bus load of interested Yr 13’s to the Waikato University Open Day on Friday 17th. It offered them an insight into what they can expect if they plan to go to university.  Students had the opportunity to attend a wide range of lectures, ‘hot tip’ sessions and could have a tour of accommodation. 
 

Mr Meys has been continuing to catch up with Yr 12 boys for a discussion around their possible next steps. Yr 13 boys who are looking to go to University next year should consider looking at applying for Scholarships. These sites are useful for finding what is available: https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/scholarships-nz.html https://www.careers.govt.nz/courses/scholarships-grants-and-awards/ 

Ms Jones is available to help with the writing/editing of applications in Rm 15. 

University Open Days

For the diary, University Open Days that are still to come are:

Canterbury University     11th July
Lincoln University           19th July
Massey University           7th August (Palmerston North)     23rd August (Wellington)     24th August (Auckland)
Victoria University           31st August
Auckland University        31st August
AUT                                 31st August
Polytechnic - Toi Ohomai     24th May