When Bella Ngawhika is at school, she is Te Puke High School’s Head Girl.

When she’s working, she’s a shift leader and lifeguard at Te Puke Memorial Pool.

The 17-year-old leader is excited to be returning to her community pool that opened for the 2025/2026 summer season last Monday.

“It’s more than just a pool; it’s definitely a home. It’s a real whānau orientated pool, too,” Ngawhika said.

With the new season also comes new facility management and increased weekday hours to allow members of the community to enjoy the pool for longer as temperatures warm up.

Bay Venues is now managing the pool on behalf of Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the community feel of the facility remains a key focus.

To celebrate the opening of the new season, a pool party will be held at Te Puke Memorial Pool tomorrow.

The Te Puke community is encouraged to come along to the event, which will run from 11am-2pm and will feature pool inflatables, a manu competition and a free sausage sizzle.

Te Puke Swimming Club classes have started and other community activities and programmes are being planned, including aqua exercise sessions and a range of BaySwim classes that will be launching early next year.

When members of the community pop into the pool this season, they’ll be greeted by a lifeguard team with plenty of local familiar faces.

For the past two seasons, Ngawhika has been a swim coach at Te Puke Memorial Pool.

“You get to know the regulars, you learn so much about them.”

She said she’s excited to be taking on a new role this season. As a lifeguard and shift leader, she’s hoping to be able to interact with more people in the community.

“It’s a real neat community.”

Born and raised in Pongakawa, and heavily involved at her school, Ngawhika is no stranger to her workplace or the Te Puke community.

“There’s always someone there that we know.”

Helping to lead the team at Te Puke Memorial Pool this season is Daniel Kingsbeer.

The aquatics supervisor grew up on a local strawberry farm, has positive memories of using the pool as a child and still lives in Te Puke today.

He said he’s looking forward to being part of a team with strong links to the area.

“It’s good having a local team because we already have all those connections with the community,” Kingsbeer said.

The pool will be open to the public each weekday morning from 6am to 8.30am and then will reopen in the afternoon between 3.30pm-6.30pm.

Longer weekday opening hours will allow locals to pop down to the pool after school or work for evening swims. A small swim shop offering swim accessories will also be available for customers.

For more information about Te Puke Memorial Pool including entry prices, birthday parties, memberships and more, visit the website.

About Te Puke Memorial Pool:

The main 33m swimming pool has 7 lanes.

The toddler’s pool is 0.5m deep.

The dive pool is 3.6m deep.

All pools sit at approximately 27C.

The pool has certified lifeguards on site and new caregiver-to-child supervision ratios and requirements.

Operating hours are 6am-8.30am and 3.30pm-6.30pm Monday-Friday; 10am-5pm on weekends, school holidays and public holidays (except Christmas day).