Fifty years ago in 1976, Tauhara College began its first full year of instruction; the buildings for the new school having been completed in 1975.
Organisers of a 50th reunion, running October 16-18, say they are planning a celebration to bring the community together to honour five decades of memories, connections, and achievements.
Notable among these was that the college was the first state school to have a marae built by the Ministry of Education.
Reunion organisers Beau Tahau and Brenda Pilkington say they have had a lot of queries or people wanting to be a part of the celebration.
While the official registration form has closed off, Beau says they have found there are still people who want to come along.
“So, we have put the message out there to contact the front office and then they'll pretty much take the registration. So, it is still open… we're welcoming all those who are still finding out whether or not they can get here.”
Brenda says a lot of interest has come from the first cohort through the school – the school’s earliest intake.
“So, there's lots of communicating going on with some of that group of people who really want to make this an opportunity to reconnect and to come home and to celebrate Tauhara and celebrate really the Taupō community.”
“There's lots of memories being rekindled and a little bit of banter going on…. I guess it's a kind of memorable part of who you were when you were the first students at a school. So that group of foundation students are very keen for the event and reconnecting with Tauhara.”
She also notes that any attendees will also be able to get a sense of the new Tauhara College – in the process of being rebuilt.
“So we'll be able to showcase that to the community as well… So it's kind of quite definitive too, that 50 years later, it's another new start from those new buildings 50 years ago.”
Registrations are already into the hundreds, says Beau, as organisers work through the list of pre-registrations.
Brenda urged those who haven’t yet registered and want to attend to book in via the school office “the sooner the better” to assist with planning.
Tauhara College history
Established to relieve overcrowding and roll pressure at the existing Taupō-nui-a-Tia College, the school opened with Norm Pointon as its founding principal – a position he held until 1994.
The school went from an opening roll of 170, with 18 staff, to over 400 with 53 staff during his tenure.
In its early days, increases to the student roll were assured with the establishment of a school zone for the town, with students living to the north of Rifle Range Rd automatically eligible to attend Taupō-nui-a-Tia while students on the south side were expected to enrol at Tauhara, though out of zone enrolments could be sought.
The college now boasts around 680 on its roll.
Pointon was followed by Peter Grant, before a short stint by caretaker principal Alan Rumble, and then Peter Gould, Keith Buntting and now current principal Ben Hancock who started in the position in 2020 and is a former student of the school.
Significant water damage caused by a storm shortly after Hancock’s arrival, in November 2020, rendered many of the school’s aging classrooms unusable and 13 new prefab classrooms, five administration spaces and three ablution blocks were delivered on site from December 2020.
The college has since progressed to a multi-stage major redevelopment project overseen by the Ministry of Education. In July 2024 construction services were tendered, and the contract awarded to Livingstone Building NZ Ltd in September 2024 with construction then commencing in October that year.
The ongoing redevelopment includes new facilities such as a two-storey administration, science and technology block, along with other upgrades to support learning.
Teachers and students are expected to move into the new building at the beginning of term three this year while the construction of other blocks continues.
