The Year 7 Peer Support programme finished with flying colours last week as our young ākonga and their Year 11 mentors celebrated with a grand finale of action-packed activities. The fun-filled finale firmly cemented the tukana-teina relationship between our newest students and their leaders.

Tēnā koutou kātoa ngā whānau o te kura

Just 12 school days until the end of Term 1... Here are the key dates for the remainder of Term.

Our Year 7 students have survived their first seven weeks at college. So, what have they been doing and how has it all felt? We asked students in Miss Jessica Phayer and Mrs Veronica Sowerby’s class to share their thoughts.

In each newsletter, we put one of our staff under the microscope so you get to know the people helping to mould your child. This time, however, it’s teaching veterans Isabel Jeftha, Peter Braid, and Marty Lee - who have each achieved 20 years of teaching at Aquinas College.

Our premier boys’ 3x3 basketball team has secured a spot at nationals following its sensational third-place finish at the Northern Champs in Auckland last night. The lads qualify for nationals as one of the top 12 boys' teams!

Can you help? Aquinas needs volunteer readers/writers to assist students during internal assessments and exams throughout the year.

Aquinas athletes had an outstanding performance at the NZ Track & Field Championships, bringing home seven medals, including two golds for middle-distance superstar Holly Fausett. It caps off a successful athletics season for our top-class runners.

Last month, we unveiled the school’s magnificent new altar and lectern hand-crafted by senior students. Today, we take a closer look at the work behind these Aquinas taonga.

Entries for the EPro8 Engineering In-school Competition close this Friday (March 22), so register your team now to secure one of the 16 available spots. Thanks to the generous support of parents Tom and Kate Magill of Magill Consulting Group, Aquinas now has three extra EPro8 school kits for students to use.

It’s been a busy start to the year for the Future Pathways faculty.

AC Pride is in high gear in Palmerston North as our premier volleyball teams compete in the NZ Secondary School Champs. Already, our boys have won promotion from Division 5 to Division 4 for 2025! Catch up on the action with this fantastic report from volleyball TIC Angus Donaldson.

The annual Level 2 Biology Ecology field trip to Matua was another huge success!

Some key sporting achievements from the past few weeks...

Come along and support the AC Combo when it performs in the 46th National Youth Jazz Competition at Baycourt next Tuesday, March 26.

Our international students got the adrenalin pumping with a laser tag and drift-kart adventure earlier this month. Here’s what they had to say…

Aquinas students recognised for their brilliant Young Innovator Award (yia!) entries were recently chosen to participate in a two-day problem-solving workshop.

Five members of our Aquinas whānau have been cast in Tauranga’s upcoming musical, CATS.

Surf life saving phenom India Scholes (Yr 10) has done it again, bagging another six-medal haul at a national championship. She won three gold, a silver and two bronze at the 2024 NZ Surf Life Saving Championships at Mt Maunganui this month.

Throughout Term 1, a fantastic new lunchtime initiative has been operating to help Year 7 students connect and make new friends. Year 13 students Erin Moore and Alana Aleksich, who have spearheaded the programme, explain the thinking behind Awhi Awhi.

Aquinas athletes smashed 11 school records and achieved 15 podium places at the BOP Secondary School Champs earlier this month. Some amazing performances by some very talented athletes!

Is your child keen to learn a musical instrument? We still have Term 1 music lessons available with our itinerant music teachers.

This year, Aquinas has established a Ngā Manukura Tutor Group to give interested tauira the chance to deepen their engagement with kaupapa Māori.

A round of applause for our five novice rowers who recently competed at the North Island Secondary School Rowing Champs, taking on windy conditions and experienced rowers.

Hosting an international student is a fantastic opportunity for your family to learn about a new culture while sharing your own.

Registrations are now open for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award — the world’s leading youth achievement award.

It’s been an action-packed first term for the Year 13 Outdoor Education class, from surfing at Mount Maunganui to Kaimai Range river crossings.

A reminder that our school nurse will soon be conducting checks on students to evaluate their health and well-being.