Tauhara College is a medium-sized, decile five school in Taupo, New Zealand. The co-educational high-school currently has about 450 students. Tauhara College is one of three high-schools in Taupo; the others being Taupo-Nui-a-Tia College and Lake Taupo Christian School (private). As well as normal school curriculum, Tauhara runs various night-classes for the public, and has a long successful record of hosting international students from all over the world. The students in the school are divided into four "canoes" which compete in numerous events, mostly sporting, throughout the year in order to gain the most points in the Tauhara College Canoe Competition. The houses, and the colours they are represented by, are: In 2010, the top canoe in the Canoe Competition was Aotea. Tauhara College was featured in the New Zealand Herald in 2006 when the principal at the time, Peter Grant, attributed the college's falling roll to the fact that New Zealand Idol contestant Michael Murphy had attended rival school Taupo-Nui-a-Tia College. The theory was not supported by the Tauhara College School Board, nor Murphy himself.