Austen-tatious Final Performance

Photos / Rebecca Laing

Last Thursday and Friday, Level 3 Drama put on their final production for high school: Sense and Sensibility, adapted from the classic Jane Austen novel.
The students had put in seven weeks of effort, five intense weeks of rehearsals – including after-school rehearsals almost every day – and weekends running lines with their families.
HOD Drama Miss Hughes said, "I’d like to thank our student teacher Jacob Dale for helping out in the past few weeks, and Myra Smith, who stepped in for a student and returned to the Drama classroom to perform.
"Both nights were fully sold-out, and the response from the audience was truly incredible – on and off the stage. This year, both groups looked sharp in the new Music Department uniform shirts." 

School House Centenary: Save the Date

Conditions in the old hostel, pictured above, in the mid-1930s were somewhat different to what boys experience today, as pictured below.

MAGS will be celebrating the Centenary of School House in 2027 on Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26.
For all those with an association with the boys hostel, please put those dates in your diary and await announcements of events to mark this occasion.
We are looking for contacts of old house boys, photos and interesting stories. Please send these to [email protected]

Tonga Language Week

MAGS students celebrated Tonga Language Week with performances, sports games, and wearing cultural attire.
During the week, there was a cultural performance at Wesley Intermediate, a sports day in the gym, and today a Turbo Touch game won by the Staff team, and a cultural performance. 
The 2025 theme for Tonga Language Week is ‘Ko 'etau lea, ko e fe’unu mahu’inga ia ki he mo’ui ‘a e Tonga - Our language is a vital strand of our Tongan culture.’

 From the Archives: Tongan Culture at MAGS

The Tongan language has long been a part of the MAGS community.
Tongan cultural groups have performed regularly in Polyfest, originally known as the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Island Cultural Festival, which was first held in 1976.
Forty years ago, in 1985, the festival was held at James Cook High School and MAGS was represented by four groups – Cook Islands, Niuean, Samoan and Tongan.
The Tongan group, pictured above, was the most successful and a report was written for the school magazine in both English and Tongan by the leader of the group, Paul Johansson. His report can be found here
Paul was selected to serve as a school prefect in 1985 and can be seen in the prefect photo of that year, as per below, along with a number of well-known members of the Mounga Alipate community. 

 – Greg Cave, Archivist – email: [email protected]

Business Students' Publishing Venture

Seven MAGS Business students have developed and are selling an inclusive, bilingual (English and Te Reo Māori) games booklet – Kia Tākaro – for New Zealanders.
Kia Tākaro was designed to promote friendship, active play, and participation for all abilities, including neurodiverse students, with 5% of profits donated to CureKids NZ.
Priced at $12.99, the booklet will be sold in schools and online.

Group members Sophie Smith, Rinko Iwasaki, Benjie Fairclough, Riley Ziegler, Abdullah Osman Latib and Jack Ritchie came up with the idea as part of a YES Enterprise Challenge.
The Year 13 students noticed that lots of children in New Zealand struggle to make friends and join in play. Because many of  the business students are Peer Support leaders, they had witnessed that struggle.
Group member Sophie Smith said, "After looking up data like the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, we saw how big an issue this actually is.
"From there, our group wanted to create something fun that would help kids connect more. That’s how we decided on making an activity booklet that encourages active play and includes Te Reo Māori to include New Zealand culture. We chose 15 games that we tested and knew kids would love." 
The group are pictured at top, presenting on the YES Enterprise Challenge 2 pitch day, when they pitched their product to a panel of judges, which every MAGS Year 13 Business group had to undertake.
Sophie adds, "We ended up getting a 90/100 and getting the best score out of all the MAGS teams."
You can order copies of the book via [email protected] 

Lambing Season in Full Swing

Lambing season is well underway on the ASB MAGS Farm with 23 ewes having lambed so far, producing approximately 40 lambs with all but three ewes having had twins.
There are 20 more ewes to come that will be lambing a bit later.

Commerce Students in Pursuit of Glory

Our Commerce Department entered three teams in the Pursuits competition held at Auckland University last night.
The event is organised by CETA and sponsored by Auckland University, who kindly provide the venue as well as food, drinks and prizes for the night.
There are three separate Pursuits competitions for Accounting, Economics and Business Studies. Students answer seven rounds of questions on different topics relating to their subjects, with the higher scores at the end of round seven taking away prizes. 
MAGS came away with 2nd place in Accounting, 3rd place in Business and 4th place in Economics.
HOD Economics and Business Mrs Farquhar said, "Competition is fierce, with schools represented from all parts of Auckland. As always, MAGS students represented us with pride and good sportsmanship – and improved markedly on results from previous years."

Seeking Table Sponsors for Sports Awards

The annual Sports Awards Dinner is fast approaching, and planning for this event is well underway.
The Sports Department is seeking table sponsors from community and wider businesses. Table sponsorship comes at a cost of $500 with businesses being acknowledged in the school newsletter and on the Sports Awards Dinner programme.  
Sponsoring a table for the event enables us to provide a free ticket for our premier coaches and managers to attend, and helps to reduce the cost to our students who will be acknowledged on the night for their sports excellence. 
Enquiries to Judy Revell – Director of Sports Administration & Facilities – [email protected]

Course Selection Open for 2026 Year 10s

Course selection for Years 9s going into Year 10 in 2026 is open, and students can make their choices through SchoolPoint. 
Parents are encouraged to view option selections and support students in their choices.
Click here for a useful form with information and here for instructions about Year 10 course selection.
Students should try to complete their option selections by Friday, 5th September, if possible.

Sports Update

Winter Tournament Week

During Winter Tournament next week, MAGS has 18 teams competing across 12 sporting codes throughout the country.   
Students are competing in the following sports: Basketball – 2 Teams, Football – 2 Teams, Hockey – 2 Teams, Lacrosse – 2 Teams, Netball – 2 Teams, Rugby – 1 Team, Rugby League – 1 Team, Rock Climbing – 1 Team, Underwater Hockey – 1 Team, Wrestling – 1 Team, Fencing – 1 Team, Curling – 2 Teams.
You can see fixtures and results from the week here
The MAGS Sport Instagram page will also have photos and results throughout the week here

Netballers Runners-Up In Auckland

Our Netball Premiers will be battle-hardened going into the UNISS Tournament next week, having pushed defending champions Howick College all the way in Wednesday night's Premier 1 Final.
MAGS took an early lead but couldn't hold off a strong Howick team, who eventually won 37-30.

Four Teams in Rugby Finals Tomorrow

Our Rugby Boys and Girls 1st XV seasons may be over but MAGS has four teams playing in rugby finals tomorrow – all at the same venue.
If you want to get out and support the boys, they are all playing at Mt Wellington War Memorial Park.
Our 2B team plays Auckland Grammar at 9.15am, the undefeated 2C Gold side (pictured above and below) plays Kelston at 9.15am, the 5th Grade team is up against Macleans College at 10.40am, and the Under 15 Restricted team plays Auckland Grammar at 12 noon.
You can see the draw here