If Ivan Alexander goes back to school next month, the bell will ring summoning him to class. But the schoolyard will be silent, deserted.

There'll be no kids at play, no laughter, no chatter. Mr Blows, the no-nonsense schoolmaster won't be at the blackboard. There'll be no addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. And Ohauiti Primary School itself will have gone.

There will be only ghosts, memories and stories.

Ivan's now 89. 'At present or coming up.” He remembers Mr Blows well. And painfully.

'Eric Blows was a disciplinarian – liked the strap.” And Ivan experienced Blows' displeasure firsthand. 'Yes, I was doing a bit of cheating – I had a problem that I couldn't get my head around.” So Ivan copped it fair.

Alexander Ivan Edward, as he would have appeared in the Ohauiti Primary School roll, born in 1928, started at the single class primary school in 1933, and left when he was 14. He just might be there for the school centenary on Sunday, September 3 – a celebration for a school that doesn't exist any more.

'There are a dozen former pupils still alive, all probably in their 80s” says reunion organiser Sue Frieswyk. 'But descendants of pupils are coming out of the woodwork.”

It'll be a small affair – 20-30 people. 'Not huge,” says Sue. They'll gather at the Ohauiti Settlers' Hall on Sunday morning, visit the site of the old school house up the road, ring a school bell and plant a tree.

'You know, there's probably never been a reunion,” reflects Sue. 'It's almost too late but not too late.”

Ohauiti Primary School closed in 1945 and all the kids trundled off seven kilometres down the hill to Tauranga Primary. And the school building itself was carted down the road and integrated into the Ohauiti Settler's Hall. It's providing sustenance of a different kind now – it's the supper room. That's where the reunion lunch will be held – the supper room, the old schoolhouse, where all this started.

You can still make out the school's entranceway in the wood pattern on the hall floor. School kids trundled back and forth to class over that very timber 100 years ago.

Ivan Alexander also remembers a Miss Stansell. 'She lived in Tauranga and every day she would ride the potholed, metal road to the schoolhouse on an old Indian motorcycle.” That must have impressed a boy.

And what was she like? 'Well, we were just kids, we did as we were told, we behaved ourselves and that was about it.”

Ohauiti Primary School obviously has a history, but not a written history. We do know that it cost 236 pounds, two shillings and five pence and it was over budget. The specs also said it was to be built of kauri and totara, or whatever the most conveniently-obtained timbers were available. And it was painted with three coats of Hubbuck's – the best quality white lead paint and raw linseed oil. OSH wasn't even a twinkle in our eyes in those days.

Probably the same reason teachers leaving Ohauiti Primary were gifted smokers' accessories – pipes and lighters and the like. In 1929 when a Mr RJ Schischka left for Kaitaia he got a silver cigarette case but a more appropriate fountain pen from the kids.

There was another teacher, Miss McCorkindale, at Ohauiti Primary. She would have all the kids singing ‘Waltzing Matilda' first thing. 'Was she an Aussie?” asked one former pupil, Margaret E Morton QSM.

Former Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward, who was an Aussie, dropped by the school in 1923. Blamed his lateness on the state of the roads and blathered on for an hour.

While riding home from school, Jack Webster was thrown from his horse and 'rendered unconscious” for a day. Saddles weren't commonplace those days.

Yet another teacher, Sandy Sandlant, drove to the schoolhouse from Matua each day. He would bring a crate of milk, decant it into a large pot, heat it on the potbelly and make cocoa for everyone.

Molly Bloor, another pupil, remembers an Anglican deaconess, Miss Burley, in a grey belted frock and black hat who would ride to the school in an 'elegant gig” to give the kids religious instruction.

Outside, a landowner was having problems working a stock dog. 'It was told in no uncertain terms it had no pedigree. Miss Burley did her best to ignore the air pollution but I have always remembered her dignity when the odds were against her.”

Ohauiti Primary School is defunct, closed its doors in 1945. But the stories live on. And many more will be spun at the school centenary on Sunday, September 3.

Meanwhile, up the road at the old schoolhouse site, a home is being constructed. A family is moving in and once again the schoolyard will sound to kids at play.

For more information or to join the reunion phone 07 544 2212 or email delaney@kinect.co.nz