"In our day the girls would sweep the school on Friday afternoons and the boys emptied the buckets in the toilets," he said.
"Conduit Rd was one of the early roads, but it was all metal and traversed by horse and carts."
Another early pupil was John Bradley, who still lives in the district.
With a dairy factory, railway station and two lines, as well as another used for shunting, a county council yard and teams of horses in stables, 1930s life in Papatawa was very different from today, Mr Bradley said.
"Not too many people had cars in those days so they'd catch a train to Woodville to do their shopping," he said.
"Now there isn't an open railway station at Woodville."
Cheese from the dairy factory was also taken by horse and wagon to the train.
And for those early pupils, watching the excavation of school hill was an education in itself, Mr Bradley said.
"In 1940, workers dug away with shovels to get the dirt to build the first ramp for the overhead bridge on the state highway.
"I can remember Ken Pearson and his eight-tonne Fargo, he was our hero."
Shirley Beagley was a pupil in 1938 and later taught at Papatawa School on several occasions.
"This is a very united district, but sadly, us oldies are fading away," she said.
Dannevirke's Tom Pinfold lived and worked in Papatawa from 1977 until 1991 and his son Marcus was a pupil at the school.
"Things have changed so much," he said.
Beth Harding lived across the road from the school and for 54 years watched teachers and children come and go.
"Now so many of the pupils come out from Woodville on the bus. You don't see them walking any more," she said.
Matthew Templeton, a pupil at the school in 1996, is now a teacher and returned from Taranaki for the reunion, which he attended with his grandmother Margaret Cooper, a local resident.
"The fort isn't here anymore, but the school grounds are pretty familiar," he said.
Former pupils of Papatawa School include international opera singer Anna Leese and the late country and western singer Rusty Greaves.
