Hi all,
The year is flying by and the 2019 school year is well advanced. With around 2,000 students again this year there is always plenty going on around the place with a huge range of activities that the boys are getting into.
Obituary
Former staff member Graeme Cullen (accounting teacher from 1982-1985) has passed away after a 5 year battle with melanoma cancer. After his teaching Graeme was partner at accounting firm Cronin, Cullen & Egan and was a huge contributor to the Mount Maunganui Surf Club. His efforts there were recognised in his being awarded Life Membership to Surf Life Saving New Zealand. Graeme and wife Carol have 2 sons Tom and James who are TBC Old Boys.
Long Service
TBC recognises staff members that have given 25 years of service to the school by presenting them with a silver spoon. Head of Guidance Jo Wallace-Boyd and Principal’s Assistant Lyn Cosgrove have both achieved this significant milestone in 2019.
One of my tasks as Staff representative on the Old Boys Association is to keep you informed of “things TBC” . I keep an eye on the posts of over 2,000 Old Boys and will post these on the TBC Old Boys Facebook page if you are interested in further TBC details: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tbcoba/
Upcoming Events
Auckland Function
TBC Old Boys have hosted a gathering at the Bluestone Room in Durham Lane on an annual basis for some years now and it is that time of year again! The winter sports fixtures (rugby, football, hockey and basketball) against Westlake BHS are on Tuesday, May 28th and our Old Boys gathering will be on Monday, May 27th from 5pm. Finger food and your first drink will be provided by the Old Boys Association and we look forward to seeing you all there. Please spread the word and get a few of your mates along too!
School Production
TBC has the lead in producing the TBC/TGC show in 2019 which means it is back in the GYYT. The show this year is ‘Oliver” and the cast has been hard at work for months already. I have block booked tickets for the popular Friday night – June 28th – and we will arrange drinks and nibbles in the TBC Staffroom before the show. Cost is $25, so if you are keen to join us get back to me ASAP as tickets are limited.
Old Boys Dinner
The date for this year’s annual dinner has been set for Friday, September 13th and, after last year’s 60th Jubilee celebrations, we will return to the format of previous events. Get the date in your diary and start getting organised with groups for your tables now. More information will follow shortly...
TBC Arts
Jazz Festival
The 42nd National Jazz Festival held at Easter saw the TBC Big Band back on the top of the podium winning the New Orleans trophy as Most Outstanding Big Band. Individual band members won recognition as most outstanding trombonist (Reuben Stephens), most outstanding trumpeter (James Robinson) and most outstanding pianist (Troy Weenink).
Band members James Robinson and Alex Trask were awarded their New Zealand Rep ties at assembly, as the have been selected in the New Zealand Youth Symphonic Winds group. The Big Band will travel to Australia later in the year for the Sydney International Music Festival.
Polyfest
Numbers of Pasifika students at TBC have grown significantly in recent years and our Pasifika Rise group leaders attended the Polyfest festival in Auckland. The Pasifika Rise group runs at 7 a.m. Monday mornings through Terms 2 & 3 and involves around 30 of our Pasifika youth coming in for an hour of exercise before breakfast.
Sheilah Winn Shakespeare
A group of 25 of our thespians participated in the regional competition recently and with the boys producing two five minute pieces from The Merchant of Venice and a 15 minute piece from Hamlet. This was recognised as the best in its category and so the boys are off to the Nationals in Wellington at Queens Birthday weekend.
South East Auckland Festival
A small group of our Year 9 Aronui boys had been preparing excerpts from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Maori to present at this festival. A great experience for these young men.
Youth Summit
A group of Year 12 and 13 Maori students participated in a Youth Summit in Rotorua where a range of issues related to youth were discussed.
Oliver
The combined TBC/TGC production of Oliver will be staged in the Graham Young Youth Theatre from June 25th to 29th. These productions showcase the amazing talents of our young men and the boys and girls have been working hard for a number of months. Check out the TBC Old Boys Facebook page if you would like to book this great event. I have tickets organised for the first 20 people for the Old Boys event on the Friday. Get back to me if you are interested.
Xventure Family Challenge
Cayenne Williams-Murray and his family have featured in this TV3 production screening on Sundays over the last few weeks. Two New Zealand families and two Australian families have been competing in a range of challenges to produce a winner.
TBC Academic
Scholarship
Last newsletter I reported TBC had attained a total of 37 Scholarship passes in the 2018 exams. Tobias Langdon was disappointed to miss out on a scholarship in drama and has been awarded one on appeal bringing our total number up to an impressive 38.
Economics Olympiad
Year 13 student Jialan Campbell-Luo has just competed in the New Zealand Economics Olympiad at Kings College. He was selected as one of 5 students to represent our country in the international competition to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia in July.
Centurions
TBC offers awards to all students who pass 100% of the academic standards that they enter for NCEA in a particular year. The different levels are Bronze, Silver and Gold equating with Levels 1, 2 & 3 and those students attaining these impressive levels of performance were recognised at a recent assembly. At Level 1 61 students achieved Bronze, at Level 2 49 students achieved Silver while 61 students achieved Gold. Of these students 18 boys had Bronze, Silver and Gold having passed every credit attempted.
TBC Sport
Swimming
A total of 22 TBC swimmers competed at the Bay of Plenty Championships and such was the quality of their performance that TBC were recognised as the top school in the Bay. Our relay teams took out gold medals in all of the events for boys while Daniel Shanahan won all of the events that he entered.
One team member Brayden Scharevi competing at the Nationals placed in the top 10 in 8 different events with the highlight being his gold medal in the 400 metre Individual Medley.
Surf Lifesaving
Junior student Matthew Robinson was a stand out performer at Mount Main Beach in the recent National championships winning the gold medal in the Under 14 Board Rescue and bronze in the Under 14 Board Relay.
Futsal
Our Futsal teams contested the Bay of Plenty Championships with both Senior and Junior sides coming through victorious. In the Junior Division TBC A beat Rotorua BHS in the final while the TBC B team placed 4th. In the Senior division the superiority of TBC was proven with the TBC A side beating TBC B in the final 2-1. Tauranga Boys’ students were named as the Players of the Tournament, with Xavier Maddox named in the Junior division and Cameron Shannon the top Senior player.
Lawn Bowls
The National Secondary School Bowls Championships featured 42 contestants and Year 13 TBC student Anthony Ouellet won the singles title when he beat a Rosehill College bowler in straight sets in the final.
Water Polo
Our water polo A & B teams headed off to respective New Zealand Secondary Schools finals after dominating local competition through the season. In the Div 1 finals the Senior A team placed 4th, which was a great performance for a small and relatively young team. Hamilton BHS were second overall and our lads had beaten them every time we played them in 2019.
The Senior B team placed 2nd in the Div 2 finals losing by a solitary goal to Rangitoto B to end a very successful event for our teams.
Surfing
The Gisborne Invitational was held last weekend and TBC students performed very well. Luke Rippon won the Under 18 event while another TBC student won at the Under 16 level.
Kayaking
TBC continued an impressive run at the 2019 National Kayaking Championships, which were held on the Tarawera River when our paddlers came out as 20 times national champions. Twenty schools were competing and TBC paddlers brought home a total of 70 medals.
Hockey
The Midlands Association has selected its side for the National Under 18 competition and TBC has a record number of players in the side with seven. Current 1st XI players Sam Britain, Fraser Pugh, Tom Friskney, Felix Creighton-Syme and Matt Pinkerton are joined by Ethan Larsen and Connor Garner who are in their first year out of school.
Cricket
A group of 17 TBC cricketers will leave Tauranga at the end of this term on a 19 day tour of the United Kingdom, playing 11 T20 & 50 over games and watching the Black Caps play England at the Cricket World Cup. The itinerary begins in Durham before matches in Liverpool and London and then some rest and relaxation on the south coast at Brighton. Last matches are in Tunbridge Wells before another couple of days in London before taking the train for Paris and the flight home. Old Boys Tim Clarke and Charles Williams will coach the side with me managing the group. For those of you in the UK who might be keen to see some TBC cricket I will have more detail on the TBC Old Boys Facebook page closer to the trip.
Old Boys Arts
Old Boy and son of former staff member Ewan McLeod, Jaden McLeod has followed his acting dream to the United Kingdom. He has is one of just 100 accepted into the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain which has developed acting talent such as Colin Firth, Hellen Mirren and Kate Winslet in the past.
Old Boys Academic
Former elite rower and TBC head Prefect Toby Cunliffe-Steel has just graduated from Massey with a master’s degree in sports management. Toby had been an elite lightweight rower from 2009 to 2016 but missed the 2016 Rio Olympic squad and has since concentrated on his academic pursuits combined with some triathlon.
Old Boys Sports
Rugby
Former All Black and Maori All Black captain Tanerau Latimer has returned to Tauranga and is coaching and playing for the Rangiuru side in the local Premier competition. They are looking like potential semi finalists in the competition.
The last newsletter reported that Leroy Carter and Cade Forbes had been selected in a 50 man squad from which the Under 20 side for the World Championships in Argentina would be selected. Since then both have played for the Under 20s in the Oceania Series and now they have made the final selection for Argentina.
A feature of Super Rugby is the number of New Zealand sides that are carrying injuries and Old Boys Sam Kane and Aiden Ross both have neck injuries still, which have meant little game time this season. Meanwhile, injury to Highlander Bryn Gatland has seen another Old Boy in Dan Hollinshead recruited on short term loan from Japanese club side Coca Cola Red Sparks. Dan has yet to play Super Rugby but was named on the bench to debut against the Jaguares this week.
Sailing
New Zealand sailors are busy in Europe at the moment contesting a range of different categories. Old Boys Peter Burling and Trent Rippey contest the 49er class, Jason Saunders the Nacra 17, while Tom Saunders and Sam Meech are in the Laser class. Most successful has been Sam Meech having secured a silver in one of the World Cup events with all of the sailors looking to put in good performances in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics.
Cricket
Kane Williamson has prepared for the 2019 Cricket World Cup playing in the IPL with his Sunrisers Hyderabad eliminated by the Delhi Capitals in the first match of the playoffs. After a stand-out 2018 season Kane has struggled somewhat this season but now heads off to the United Kingdom where the Cricket World Cup begins later this month.
I hope there are some items of interest here – if you have any feedback &/or news that I can include in future newsletters please e-mail me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
All the best for now,
Rob Leslie
Staff Rep for the TBC Old Boys Association
