Celebrating student success was a highlight last week. We met for breakfast with over one hundred of our 2024 Level One and Level Two Excellence Endorsement students and their family members at the Mount Club on Wednesday. It was a pleasant way to acknowledge the hard work of our students and the tremendous support they receive from home. Thanks to all of our families who attended and for your continued support.
Thanks to all the families who attended our learning conferences on Thursday and Friday. With up to seven teachers to meet for each student, we appreciate the time and energy you took to discuss your child’s progress. I want to encourage families to continue to reach out with any questions or concerns regarding their child’s progress.
Congratulations to Kōtuku house for winning the prestigious annual house haka competition today. It was fantastic to see our students come together to perform powerful, passionate haka, celebrating their house identity and honouring the rich traditions of te ao Māori. Our students embodied discipline, teamwork, and pride with every haka. This event unites our school, building whanaungatanga, confidence, and a sense of belonging. This competition has been running for nearly a decade and it is great seeing it go from strength to strength.
We have also had many students succeed in regional athletics and swimming competitions recently and others excelling in surf lifesaving. Dan Meade has provided an update later in this newsletter on our recent sporting achievements.
Finally, good luck to all students heading away for summer tournament week. 2025 sees a record number of students representing Mount Maunganui College across various sporting codes. I look forward to updating the community on success in our following newsletter.
The Mount Maunganui College Automotive programme has recently come into possession of a vintage 1937 Vauxhall 14. One family has owned this car since new. It was bought after the war new and driven for a few years before the owner sold it to his brother. Mount Maunganui College Automotive Department then took possession of the car from the second owner's daughter who still had it stored in her garage.
Thanks to the King family, Mount Maunganui College students now have the opportunity to restore the car back to drivable condition and the Technology Department would like your help.
We are seeking expressions of interest from our community to help restore this project car. We are looking for anyone with an interest in classic car restoration or the automotive trades who may be able to pop in during school hours to assist students and staff in the restoration.
The skills we are looking for include but are not limited to, automotive mechanic, automotive electrician, upholsterer and panel and paint.
The plan is not a full restoration to original but to get it to the stage where it is drivable and to probably keep the patina as is.
If you would like to be part of this project, please email tonyn@mmc.school.nz to register your interest.
The best place to get all the information regarding muster and trial dates is the daily notices. Although we encourage students to take responsibility for themselves, parents and caregivers can access these at: https://www.mmc.school.nz/NEWS-1/Daily-Notices.
Off-field Sports Uniforms Off-field sports uniforms are available online at https://codesport.co.nz/catalog/MMCSupporters-1106457.htmx or in store at 94 Elizabeth Street. It is important to have all our sports players looking the part and we encourage students to buy a long sleeve or short sleeve tee and / or hoodie if they don’t already have an off-field uniform.
Sponsorship A massive thank you to our amazing group of sponsors who make a genuine difference to our school sports programme. Please reach out on danm@mmc.school.nz if you’re interested in joining our amazing group of sponsors who make a genuine difference to sport at Mount Maunganui College. We have a range of packages and sponsor benefits available and would love to hear from you. _____________________________________________________
High Achievers Apologies to Marley de Jong who was missed off the last newsletter but placed 2nd in the U15 category at the National Speed Climbing Championships. Well done, Marley.
Congratulations to Cara Hicks who competed at the Oceania Speed Climbing Championships, held at Blake Park, where she represented New Zealand and finished 4th in the Open Women’s Division.
What’s been happening? BOPSS Athletics Some amazing results from BOPSS Athletics recently held at Tauranga Domain.
RESULTS 1st Place (Automatic entry into Waikato/BOP Athletics) Izzy Blades: 1st Intermediate Girls 100m and 200m Jay Eilering: 1st 800 Junior Boys Harlow Horne: 1st 800 Intermediate Girls Ryder Matthews: 1st 3000m Intermediate Boys Freya Clark: 1st Triple Jump Senior Girls
Top 3 Placing (Automatic entry into Waikato/BOP Athletics) Sophia Maltai-Spence: 2nd 1500m Intermediate Girls Shamar Broughton: 2nd Shotput Intermediate Girls Freya Clark: 2nd Javelin Senior Girls Freya Clark: 2nd High Jump Senior Girls Andre Drew: 2nd Long Jump Senior Boys Charis Broughton: 3rd Shotput Intermediate Girls Ashton Mitford-Burgess: 3rd 3000m Junior Boys Belle Ririnui: 3rdTriple Jump Intermediate Girls Jess Sutcliffe: 3rd Javelin Junior Girls
4th – 6th Placing (Automatic entry into Waikato/BOP Athletics) Quinn Murdoch: 4th 800m Junior Girls, 5th 100m Jay Eilering: 4th 1500m Junior Boys Paul Wilken: 4th Javelin Intermediate Boys Jess Sutcliffe: 4th Shotput Junior Girls Freya Clark: 4th High Jump Senior Girls Josiah Aoina: 4th Long Jump Senior Boys Thijs Clements: 5th 100m Intermediate Boys Cara Hicks: 5th 100m and 6th Long Jump Senior Girls Madeline Orchard: 6th 100m Junior Girls Andre Drew: 6th 100m Senior Boys Te Raiti Hamilton: 6th 200m and 400m Intermediate Boys Lara Wright: 6th Triple Jump Junior Girls Boston Sherris: 6th Javelin Intermediate Boys Freya Clark: 4th Javelin and 6th Shotput
BOPSS Swimming Champs Congratulations to all our student who took part in the BOPSS Swimming Champs held last Friday. The team came second overall. Special mention to Ryleigh McEwan who took out Intermediate Boys Champion on the day and McKenzie Jury who came second in the Intermediate Girls Division.
100m Freestyle Fletcher Cameron – 56.99 (2nd place)
200m Medley Relay Mount Maunganui College Team – 2:11.26 (2nd place)
BOPSS Triathlon Well done to all competitors who took part in the BOPSS Triathlon Champs, recently held in Ohope. Great to get this event delivered after being postponed previously due to bad weather.
U13 F Sophie Braithwaite, 2nd place
U 14 F Quinn Murdoch 2nd place U Ellie Renwick 3rd place
U 14 TEAM 1st place Max McNeill - Swim Mayson Snow - Bike Ashton Bitford-Burgess - Run
As well as awesome efforts from: U 16 M Sam Cameron Ryder Matthews
U 16 F Harlow Horn
BOPSS 3x3 Basketball Champs Our 3x3 Basketball teams competed at Mercury Arena recently, playing some great basketball. Congratulations to our Senior Prem teams who both qualified for 3x3 Zone champs held during Summer Tournament week.
RESULTS Senior Prem boys, 3rd, Senior A boys, 1st, Senior B boys, 2nd Senior Prem girls, 3rd, Junior girls 3rd Junior A boys, 5th Junior B boys, 5th
BOPSS Volleyball Champs Three big weekends of BOPSS Volleyball champs have come to an end for our students. Well done to all involved.
RESULTS A Boys: 5th A Girls: 7th B Girls: 13th C Girls: 26th
Waikato/BOP Schools XC MTB Champs Congratulations to Year 9 student, Mason Snow, on placing 2nd in the Waikato / Bay of Plenty Schools Cross Country Mountain Biking Championships earlier in March.
BOPSS Ultimate Frisbee Congratulations to our Senior Girls who were 1st overall with our Senior Boys taking 3rd overall today at the Bay of Plenty Secondary School Ultimate Frisbee Championships held at Waipuna Park, Welcome Bay.
BOPSS Golf Our school golf team travelled all the way to Ōpōtiki to compete in the BOPSS Golf Championships, achieving the best results in Mount Maunganui College history, qualifying our top team for Nationals in August.
RESULTS 1st place Gross Boys - Tyler Ashton 1st place team - Tyler Ashton, Nathan Tutt, Oscar Tutt
BOPSS Tennis BOPSS Tennis Champs were held in Papamoa on Wednesday 26 February. We sent the largest group Mount Maunganui College has seen in a long time, great to see interest in tennis growing. Special mention to Lucy Goodwin who was runner up Div 1 and Hope Black and Ben Jessop who both won the plate final in Div 1.
NZSLS Champs Congratulations to all our Mount Maunganui College students who represented various clubs at the New Zealand Surf Life Saving Nationals in challenging conditions. Thanks to Mr Richardson for collating the list below. Please let us know if we’ve missed anyone and we’ll include them in our next newsletter.
Gold Medals U17 Male Rescue Tube Rescue Mac Ewing and Cole Frazer
U17 Male Beach Relay Thijs Clement Sam Hawkins Charlie De La Haye
U17 Female Taplin Relay Olivia Verryt Maia Symes
U17 Female Surf Teams Grace Richardson Olivia Verryt
U17 Female Board Relay Ella Grace
U15 Female 2k Beach Run Sophia Maltai Spence
U15 Female Board Race Sophia Maltai Spence
SILVER U19 Female Surf Canoe Long Course Ella Weatherall, Poppy Richardson, Isla Frazer
U19 Female Surf Canoe Short Course Ella Weatherall, Poppy Richardson, Isla Frazer
What’s coming up? Summer Tournament Week Best of luck to all our teams competing next week at Summer Tournament. We have teams all over the country and a huge amount of work has gone in from the TICs, coaches, managers and fundraising committees in the lead up. A massive thank you to all of the people who make these opportunities possible for our students.
We provide the opportunity to play in three leagues; Premier Grade, A Grade, and Age Group. Both the Premier Grade and A Grade are played on Wednesday nights. Age Group is played on Friday nights.
The Premier Grade and A Grade leagues are for players who want to play competitively, be coached, and train regularly through the week.
The Age Group league is for players and teams who want a more casual approach to basketball, where you can form a team with your friends, have a parent/ caregiver manage the team, and only be required to show up for the game.
You will need to trial to play in the Premier and A Grade competitions. The trial dates and times are as follows:
Senior Boys Basketball trials:
11 March, 5.30 - 7.30pm, MMC gym
18 March, 5.30 - 7.30pm, MMC gym
Please be aware that trialing is necessary to play in both the Senior Premier Boys and Senior Development team.
Senior Girls Basketball
Open training sessions, Friday’s 7.30pm - 9pm. The team will be selected from these training sessions.
Junior Girls Basketball
To be confirmed
Junior Boys Basketball
Open training musters: Thursday, 13 March and Thursday, 20 March, 3.15 - 4.45pm, Mount Sport Centre
Trials: Thursday, 27 March and Thursday, 3 April, 3.15 - 4.45pm, Mount Sports Centre
All students who want to play Age Group basketball (running clock) for MMC on Friday nights, please follow the instructions below:
1. Email team list to Mr Davidson (basketball@mmc.school.nz) and CC in your team members and team manager. 2. Each team needs a minimum of 8 players. 3. If you do not have an adult managing the team, you cannot enter a team.
In 2025, we will only hold Identification (ID) sessions for players who want to be considered for selection in the Premier Girls and Boys teams. These ID sessions will take place in Week 7 and Week 8 of Term One. The exact date and time will be confirmed via email for students who have registered their interest through the form.
Selection notifications for the Premier teams will be sent by email. Teams will be formed for all other players, and we will do our best to accommodate requests.
If you have already formed a team, please email the team list to Mrs. Jackson at sallyj@mmc.school.nz and CC your team members.
We have trials booked March at Tauranga Hockey Center for the following dates. Please make sure that you have registered to play on our school website, and then get your name checked off in the Pavillion before making your way to the turfs.
Trials are open to all players, please come to both relevant sessions if possible. This will give the coaches a chance to see your skills and ability to work with various players and make sure you're placed in the right teams. 6 Aside players are encouraged to come along, but it's possible to be placed in a team without trialling. Please get in touch at hockey@mmc.school.nz if you have any questions or are unable to attend trials.
March 6th 16:00-17:30 - All Girls
March 9th 18:00-20:00 - All Girls
March 13th 16:00-17:30 - All Boys
March 16th 18:00-20:00 - All Boys
Our 1st XI Girls and Boys coaches are be holding preseason trainings. If you're wanting to be considered for the 1st XI or just want to dust off the cobwebs, please come along to these sessions on our school turf!
Girls: Monday 24th Feb and 3rd March on School turf - 6:50 to 8:00 am
Boys training Monday 3rd and 10th March on School turf - 6:00 to 7:00 pm
Trial dates this year will be rolled out over two afternoons at the Tauranga Netball Centre.
Friday, March 28 - Juniors: 3:30-5:00PM & Seniors: 5:15-6:45PM
Sunday, March 30 - Juniors: 2:15-4:00PM & Seniors: 4:15-6:16PM
Tuesday, April 1 (for those who are in our Prem 1 & 2 as well as our Junior A & B teams)
Please ensure you sign up to these trials by registering on our school sport website under the Netball code tab. This is now open!
Cost for the season per player is approx. $150 - A deposit of $100 needs to be paid before you can trial. You can pay for this on the parent portal, in the office, internet banking, main office, or via automatic payments (must be specifically for netball). If there is any issue with this, please don't hesitate to contact Loren at the sports office on lorenr@mmc.school.nz and we will be more than happy to organise something that works for you and your whanau.
2025 Netball Pre-season Musters Netball pre-season sessions for all keen players are being held Tuesday 4th, 11th & 18th March at the Mount College Courts from 3.20pm. Getting into some skills, fitness and a bit of a shake out. Great way to lead into the upcoming trials! See the student netball email to indicate attendance at the musters.
If students want to register a social team - they need to register, have 10 players and have an adult to manage them. Email the player names to netball@mmc.school.nz. We can then make a note against their registration that they are already in a team. If you are an individual social player, register and we will put you in a team.
Keep an eye out on your student school email as there will be further info regarding trials, and the season ahead. Check and read these carefully.
We are also in desperate need of umpires. There is a course this weekend at the Tauranga Netball Centre if you are new to umpiring or need to refresh. Please let us know if you would like some help to become an umpire.
A sign up day has already been held but if you missed it and would like to register, please email Mr Clarke and let him know what team you’d like to play for and your year level. The cost of rugby this year is $80 per student. A rugby letter with information about how to pay etc will be emailed home in the next few weeks to the families of those who have signed up.
All boys and girls teams will begin training in the next few weeks. Players and parents of those who have signed up will get email communication regarding their squad’s training in the near future. If you are a parent who is keen to be involved in coaching rugby this year, we have openings with our U14 boys team, our junior girls team and our 1st XV. Please email Jarrod Clarke if you are interested in helping out.
BOPRU RULE UPDATE: All high school students born after April 2012 can now no longer play down in the U13 club grade if they are lighter, as per previous years. They must play for a college team, unless the college cannot supply a team for them.
At this stage it is looking like we will have enough players registered in the U14 grade for one team, but not enough for two. We would like to have an U14 squad of roughly 24 players.
As a result, any ‘overflow’ players, who weigh less than 55kg will be provided a letter to play U13 rugby.
Social Media The Sports Department has updated their Social Media pages. Please follow us on.
We acknowledge that the new school development will mean additional difficulties for some families accessing the school during drop off and pick up times.
The previous ‘main’ school carpark has now only one point of entry and exit, thereby making it inappropriate for drop off and pick ups and is now restricted to visitor parking only. If you do have to use this gate when visiting the school, be mindful of cars entering and exiting. See the map below that designates visitor parking.
The new staff carpark now has barrier arms and is limited to staff parking only. The arms will be down from 7:30 am through to 3:20 pm during weekdays. Outside of these hours the carpark will remain open to all.
If you plan on picking up and dropping off your child before and after school, this needs to happen on the surrounding streets.
Thanks to all our families who ensure our students head off to school in the correct school uniform. We know you have high expectations of how our students present themselves, so we appreciate your support.
Occasionally, students present to school in incorrect uniforms, and it can be disappointing for staff to have to start the day by having a negative conversation with a student about uniforms.
Here are some reminders to help ensure your child has a positive start to the day:
Please see attached the revised attendance codes from the Ministry of Education, which have come into full effect this year. You will see that these attendance codes now fall into the three categories.
The only category contributing to our student's present attendance percentage is the codes under “Present for ½ day calculations”.
The other codes under “Justified absence” and “Unjustified absence” do not contribute towards the Ministry of Education’s present percentage. This allows schools and whānau to see an accurate indication of a student's presence at school.
This is a reminder to families that the school has a very efficient bus service. This service will ensure your child arrives at school on time and is ready for period 1 classes.
While students can use the commercial bus service free during school hours provided they have a BEE card they cannot guarantee that they will arrive ready for an 8.45 am start. Many of these services mean that students are missing up to 30 minutes of learning time each day.
Please encourage your child to use the school buses each day. This may mean they need to leave the house earlier, but it guarantees they are ready for the start of school.
The afternoon buses leave the school grounds promptly at 3pm each day. The 712a buses are now arriving at 3 pm and the later one arrives at approximately 3.10pm.
Clarifying Bee Card changes – No action needed right now
How you travel or how your Bee Card works today is not changing right now.
The update to Bee Card terms and conditions is just to prepare for the future introduction of Motu Move, the new national public transport payment system.
What does this mean for you?
You can keep using your Bee Card as usual – no action is required.
Bay of Plenty won’t transition to Motu Move until later in 2025 – we’ll provide you with plenty of notice before any changes take effect.
When the Bee Card scheme is eventually replaced, new payment options will include: - Contactless debit or credit card - Digital payments on mobile phones and smart watches (including Apple Pay and Google Pay) - A prepaid Motu Move card
What do you need to do now?
Keep using your Bee Card as normal – nothing is changing yet.
If you keep a higher balance on your Bee Card, may want to consider running it down to avoid any inconvenience when we do transition later in 2025.
For now, there’s nothing you need to do - just keep travelling with your Bee Card as usual.
Photolife have emailed parents their child’s unique Key Code to go online to view and purchase 2025 School ID; please check your trash/spam folder. Please note that only students with a portrait photo taken have been emailed.
Mount Maunganui College is looking to display our past achievements.
If you are a former student or know of someone who represented New Zealand or earned a national title while attending Mount Maunganui College and would like your name displayed, please complete the Google form.
We are also interested in former students who have represented New Zealand or earned a national title as adults.
While all information is appreciated, we are particularly interested in information from the 1960s to 2000.
All submissions must include any verification possible to ensure the information is correct. Achievements can be in Sports, Arts, Culture or Academia.
Mount Maunganui College is developing a database of former students who are interested in keeping up to date with the college's past, present and future.
Please click the link below to register your interest and/or share with others. Access to the link can also be found on the college website.
