It was the very definition of ''old school'' in Arrowtown yesterday, and it was hard to tell who enjoyed it most - the 492 pupils or the 35 staff members.
The 150th anniversary of Arrowtown School will be celebrated at Labour Weekend. Yesterday the
children and staff ushered in the festivities by swapping their 21st-century clothes for Victorian short pants, checked shirts and cloth caps, petticoats, shawls and bonnets.
Proud parents - and a few puzzled visitors - lined Arrowtown's streets to admire the costumed pupils and teachers as they walked from the town centre to the school gates by 9am.
Others youngsters chose the only other form of transport available to their predecessors of 1863, and rode horses on to the school field, to the delight of classmates.
Discipline was as much in keeping with Victorian values as the clothes were.
Children were seen, but not heard, as they filed in single lines into the hall for assembly.
Normally cheerful principal Robin Harris cut an imposing figure as the black-clad headmaster and commanded pupils to ''sit up straight, face the front'' and address him as ''Sir''.
Youngsters were ordered to stand without talking and keep their attention fixed on senior teachers on the stage.
It was ''detention and a caning'' for one lad who had the temerity to look around.
The assembly belted out God Save the Queen ''with gusto'', as instructed by prim and proper teacher Kathleen Brentwood.
''Vicar'' Alan Forsyth read Old and New Testament scriptures.
A boy was singled out to repeat his final year, when he was quizzed by the headmaster.
While the lad correctly said London was the capital of the British Empire, he was dumbstruck when asked how many pennies there were in two shillings and sixpence (or 2/6, as it was then written).
''Save a seat for that boy next year, Miss Buckingham,'' Mr Harris said ominously.
One cheeky scamp failed to address ''Drill Master'' Winders as ''Sir'' and gasps were heard around the hall when he took a few quick pretend whacks to his backside for his trouble.
''Absolute obedience to our teachers,'' Mr Harris told the school, with some relish, before they sang All Things Bright and Beautiful and left assembly.
• How many pennies were there in 2/6? 30.
