School Spirit
School Spirit unites the students and teachers. It encourages the girls to work together, be adventurous, creative and proud of who they are. The Tauranga Girls’ College House structure gives our students a sense of belonging. A strong focus is placed on our values: Manaakitanga (Respect), Mahi Tahi (Participation) and Mana Motuhake (Pride). Every student belongs to a house and inter-house events such as Swimming Sports, Athletics Day and Waiata competitions are held throughout the year. Inter-house lunchtime activities, such as Crash-pad rounders, dodgeball, lip-sync and theatre sports give students the opportunity to create school spirit and build positive relationships between our senior and junior girls.
2021 brings with it an exciting change to the Tauranga Girls’ College house system as our kura shifts from four to five houses - Whina, Te Auetu, Mansfield, Batten and Sheppard. As the year progresses our kura will explore the history and values of these incredible women, allowing the young wahine of Tauranga Girls’ College to be inspired.
“House events here at Tauranga Girls’ College bring our school together as one in a fun-filled and supportive environment. They strip away uniforms and routines, and allow us as the students to bond with our peers and teachers away from the bustle of everyday school life. I have loved dressing up in my house colours and getting involved in any and all house events since year 9 and I’ll be encouraging students of all abilities and backgrounds to do the same this year!”
Maia Flint, Deputy Head Girl of School Spirit 2021
Houses 2022
In 2022 Tauranga Girls’ College will see the start of a new era. A change in the house structure was seen as the ideal opportunity to revisit our current house names, and decide who or what now inspires our young wahine. All students and staff were encouraged to bring forth their ideas and the whole kura would vote. An amazing array of different house suggestions were submitted and we were all excited to learn that Mahnoor Qadri and Annabel Robinson had the winning submission. Mahnoor and Annabel explain why they entered and how they chose their winning houses.
“Our inspiration for entering the competition was that we wanted to see the diversity of our school, and our school’s identity better reflected within the houses here. We wanted TGC’s students to be able to identify with the houses, be inspired by them, strengthen house spirit, and encourage our students to be the best that they can be. We wanted the qualities of our house patrons to be qualities that we would hope TGC students aim to reflect, it was also important to keep Batten and Masefield to not only acknowledge what these amazing women did in their fields but also to keep hold of a part of TGC history.”
Mansfield
Katherine Mansfield; an influential modernist New Zealand author in the early 20th century. Many of her most significant works were produced in the last years of her life, while battling tuberculosis. She spent time in her young adulthood travelling and living amongst a variety of people from all backgrounds, learning from her experiences and taking inspiration from lives different from her own. This included spending time in the Ureweras in 1907, with local iwi. To hold on to a piece of TGC tradition and history, we chose not only to keep Mansfield as a house, but it will also remain our Yellow house.
Batten
Jean Batten; she was born here in the Bay of Plenty in 1909, famous for her extraordinary talents in aviation. Batten made several record-breaking solo flights across the world, and became an international heroine. She was often referred to as ‘Rotorua’s daughter' and in the 1930’s the then chief of Te Arawa, Mita Taupopoki, presented her with a cloak and declared her Hine o te Rangi - Daughter of the Skies. She was known for her determination, and resourcefulness, and used these qualities to follow her ambitions in a male dominated profession. She always maintained an element of glamour and was nicknamed ‘the Garbo of the skies”, Batten actually visited Tauranga Girls’ College in the 1950s. She inspired generations of women who desired to chase their dreams. Batten house will be Blue.
Sheppard
Kate Shepphard; she was a prominent member of the New Zealand suffrage movement. Passionate about learning, she is known for her extensive knowledge on the arts, sciences and Law. Shepphard was an advocate for the welfare of women and children, and she led a determined campaign to ensure all women of New Zealand gained the right to vote. She inspired 1000s of women all over the world to join in this fight and in 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Sheppard house will be purple.
Whina
Whina Cooper; of Te RÄrawa, became a national symbol for land rights and social justice for Maori. She was a passionate kuia, who was given the title Te Whaea o te Motu or "Mother of the Nation" for her widespread influence. Whina was the foundation president of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, and dedicated her life to racial harmony. In 1975 Whina Cooper led a hikoi of 5000 protestors from Northland all the way down to Parliament in Wellington, which spanned 1000km, when she was 79 years old too! Whina house will be green.
Te Auetu
Te Auetu Harata Hall of Ngāti Ranginui, was born at Huria Marae in the 1850s. Having strong family links to the land that TGC now stands on, she would display great bravery as she accompanied her mother Matatu to Pukehinahina to aid dying soldiers, in the wake of the battle in 1864. We continue to learn about the story of this compassionate young wahine whose descendants have attended Tauranga Girls’ College, and still do today. We look forward to sharing more with you in the future, as we work with family and iwi, to gain an insight into her life. Te Auetu house will be red.
Our Values
At the centre of Tauranga Girls' College are our Values. Our values of Respect (Manaakitanga), Participation (Mahi Tahi) and Pride (Mana Motuhake) lead our students to be strong, independent and empowered women ready for today's world.
NGA TIKANGA
Manaakitanga
Respect
Be positive, caring and encouraging
Be accepting of difference
Collaborate with others
Have good manners and act with integrity
Mahi Tahi
Participation
Aim high and get involved
Contribute to learning
Meet every challenge
Seize every opportunity
Mana Motuhake
Pride
Be the best we can be
Be proud of ourselves and of our achievements
Be proud to be problem solvers and innovators
Be proud to be a member of our diverse school community
Our History
Although Tauranga Girls’ College first opened its doors as a separate institution on 5 February 1958 with 524 students (Principal Mrs C J Allo), third form classes had been held in the buildings in 1957 with Mrs Wakelin who was Senior Assistant Mistress at the old Tauranga College. Until 1958 girls in Tauranga were educated at Tauranga College on the site known as “Hillsdene”, which was a co-educational college (from 1946-1957), this site is now known as Tauranga Boys’College. Prior to 1946 girls and boys were educated at Tauranga District High School, part of the primary school complex on Cameron Road between Arundel Street and Fifth Avenue.
Tauranga
Girls' College
1958
Our School Board
Board of Trustees
TGC Annual Financial Reports
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Our planned 2024 Board of Trustee meetings start at 5.30 pm in the TGC Boardroom. The dates of our meetings are listed in the button below BOT Meetings 2024.
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