Rob Leslie, a teacher at Tauranga Boys' College since 1979, has now retired.
After 40 years teaching at Tauranga Boys’ College, Rob Leslie can “honestly say” there has not been a single day he did not want to go to work.
Leslie started at the college in 1979 teaching geography and social studies. The then-24-year-old moved to the Bay of Plenty after finishing teacher’s college in Christchurch.
Now, after 44 years in the profession - with 40 of those years at the college - he has made the call to bow out.
The other four years of his career were spent teaching at schools in the United Kingdom.
It was an interaction with a junior student in a social studies class at the start of this year that resulted in Leslie reflecting on his long career at the school.
The boy told Leslie he had coached his grandad in the XI hockey team in 1980.
“Teaching grandsons of guys I taught gets you thinking a little bit.”
Having more family time was also factored into his retirement decision, with Leslie’s daughter and pre-school aged grandson moving to New Zealand from England.
“Our daughter had just returned from the UK after 15 years. Her son Mason is now four. Spending a little time with a grandchild in the country for the first time is important,” he said.
Leslie officially handed in his resignation in Term 3.
He said he had not felt “particularly emotional” about the decision, but there were moments in his final weeks at school when it hit home.
Rob Leslie in a school photo from the 1980s.
The 67-year-old, who coached a hockey team every year since starting at the college, spoke of a significant moment after the finals when his hockey team was playing another from Tauranga Boys’ College.
At the end of the match, both teams formed a line-up using the arch of their hockey sticks, he said.
“I walked off through these guys. And that was the first time I was thinking, ‘This is for real’.”
His last-ever class this year - teaching Year 9 social studies - was also “pretty special” and a full-circle moment in his career, he said.
“My first-ever form class in 1979 was the top Year 9 class. I had the top Year 9s in my last social studies class as well. That ended things quite nicely. I was reasonably emotional, thinking, ‘This is it’.”
Leslie said he had only ever wanted to be in the classroom teaching, despite being encouraged to ‘advance’ his career in other leadership positions at times.
“It’s not something I have ever aspired to. It’s the relationships with a wide range of young guys coming through. I have just enjoyed the time to get the word across to the boys about the world and [was] looking to extend them. It’s part of the job I have significantly enjoyed.”
Rob Leslie first started at Tauranga Boys' College in 1979. Photo / Mead Norton
“It’s not just the boys, but the staff, too. It’s a pretty special place.”
Leslie said during his four decades in the job he could “honestly say” there had not been a single day where he did not want to go to school. On a final count, he left with about 280 sick days owing, he said.
“I guess I have been lucky with my health, but it wasn’t a place I ever felt like I didn’t want to go, which has been a blessing.”
Leslie worked under four principals during his time at the school, and had taught current principal Andrew Turner geography in his senior years.
On changes within the school over the years, Leslie said in some ways it was “very different”. However, the culture of producing “good, well-rounded young men” remained the same.
“When I see some of the absolutely outstanding young guys we turn out year after year - I think we do a pretty good job with them.”
When he first started there were 1000 fewer students, and the grounds had “changed significantly” in this time. The range of ethnic diversity had also expanded hugely over time, he said.
Some teachers continued to use corporal punishment during his early years at the college, with use of the cane “phased out” by the mid-1980s, he said.
Leslie during a school trip in Vietnam.
Highlights from his career at the college included coaching Brendon Julian in 1985 in the school’s 1st XI cricket team. Julian later went on to play seven tests and two ODI World Cups for Australia, he said.
In 2003, he was master in charge of hockey when future Black Sticks player Andy Hayward and Steve Graham were in the college’s 1st XI hockey team. The team placed second in New Zealand that year, he said.
A more recent highlight for Leslie was teaching head prefect Logan Green geography in 2020. He said the student did an “amazing job” leading students through the first Covid-19 lockdown, and he went on to receive the 2021 Sir Douglas Myers Scholarship, covering three years’ full tuition at Cambridge University.
Leslie also had fond memories of overseas geography trips to Rarotonga, Samoa, Australia, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
He would continue to work one day a week for the school as part of the Old Boys’ Association organising events, writing newsletters and keeping members connected, he said.
“So, I won’t be totally shut off from the place.”
Turner, who started as principal in July, described Leslie as “a genuine servant of education” who had dedicated his life to “supporting and growing young men, both inside and outside the classroom”.
He said his contribution to the school community had been “immense” and his presence on school grounds would be missed next year.
“Rob is a legend. You don’t replace a Rob Leslie, you just appreciate the time you had with him.”
Turner said Leslie taught himself and his sons when they were students at the college. He also coached his older brother in the school’s 1st XI cricket team.
