The community spirit of Sawyers Bay was on display at the weekend when more than 260 people travelled from as far afield as England to attend the school's 150th reunion.
Organising committee chairwoman Jan Mitchell said the "interesting thing" she noticed was how strong the sense of camaraderie was within the group.
"There is still that real sense of community. Especially at the school," she said.
However, over the years the school had taken on a different look as it grew and modernised.
Long gone is the old school, along with chalkboards which had been replaced by white-boards, screens and computers, she said.
The oldest ex-pupil present, Ethel Wilson, was, on the other hand, more concerned about what happened at the school than what it looked like.
"To me, they don't learn the basics of education like arithmetic and spelling and speech anymore," she said.
Many highly educated people she met or saw on television could not pronounce the word "properly" correctly, which was very irritating.
The 94-year-old attended the school between 1922 and 1929 and was dux in her final year.
Ex-pupils from throughout New Zealand, Australia, and England attended, some for their fourth reunion.
About 70 of the 269 registered for the reunion were taken on a tour of the school by present pupils on Friday night.
A roll call, official welcome and dinner on Saturday were followed by a barbecue and special service at the school yesterday.
Advertisement
