Up to 200 people joined us to celebrate 150 years of schooling at Papanui Primary School.

In 2021 Papanui Primary School (formerly known as Papanui District School) was prepared to celebrate 150 years of education. Unfortunately two attempts at hosting an event were thwarted by the Covid pandemic and resulting Public Health Measures.

All the previous significant events for the school (80th, 100th, 125th) have been aligned to the 1871 date, when the founding school committee met. 1872 was the year the school opened for its foundation pupils so 2022 was still a relevant and appropriate time to celebrate.  

In the absence of a 'Jubilee Committee' it was left to the school to host an Open Day.  The school, with the support of the 4Ps (Papanui Primary Past Pupils Association) and the Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central Community Board, put together a programme for Saturday 5 November 2022.

• Welcome by Mr Paul Kingston - PPS Principal 
• PPS - a brief history by Mr Roger Mckay - 125th Committee chair and former BoT Chair
• Cake cutting by Barbara Jamieson (oldest past pupil) and Maude Turner (youngest current student)
• Decade photos
• Memorabilia and historic photos on display around the school
• PPS Kapa Haka performance 
• 4Ps Cafe ... Connecting and Conversation
• 150th Tree planting by Mr David Harris of the 4Ps
• Closing and farewell by Mr Mark Strong of the PPS Board

We received a lot of positive feedback on day and here are a couple of the emails received from past pupils:

"Thank you all so very much for a most enjoyable Reunion day on Saturday. After such anticipation and delays the eventual event was perfect in every way.
Please pass thanks on to the pupils and their parents for their input into the event too.
From an ‘oldies’ perspective it was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with many friends and reminisce over chats and old photographs! Thank you for keeping the old records - they are priceless!  We came down from Nelson for the event - well worth it!  Very many thanks to all, and our best wishes too." Diane and Graeme.

Tena koutou
Thank you for all the hard work that was put into the Open Day last Saturday. I did appreciate the efforts that were put into making it a very enjoyable day.
Of course the school has changed a lot since I was there in the 1950s. I loved my time there and it helped to set me up for life. So it was good to get the feeling that today’s school is still a school to be proud of.  Nga mihi nui ki a koutou, Kay Davis.