About 200 people turned up to the rural school to reacquaint themselves with old friends, teachers and students.
The celebrations were also for Wantwood and Hillersden schools, which were also in the Wairau Valley, but later closed.
Under a grey sky and with sheep bleating in the next paddock, the past pupils and staff shared happy memories of meandering home from school, open fires and being called home from school to help on the farm.
Rita Rainbow, 75, started at Wairau Valley School when it was situated near the church on the other side of the township.
She was never in a hurry to get home after school because her mum would make her do work around the house, including polishing the brass and doing the cleaning.
While walking home with some mates they would throw stones at the telephone pole insulators to try to break them. They would also sometimes stop at the pub and get a raspberry and lemonade.
Mrs Rainbow moved to Queensland at 22 after she finished studying to be a nurse in Christchurch and has lived in Australia for 50 years. Despite that, she said she still considered the Wairau Valley to be home.
"I still say I'm coming home; I'm going home; I'm calling home."
Her education always came second to having fun, she said.
Former pupil Rex Schollum remembered being called home from school sometimes to help his parents on their sheep and cattle farm in the Wairau Valley.
He started at the school in 1939 and said his grandchildren were the sixth generation to grow up in the Wairau Valley, all of whom went to the school.
Rob MacLellan started at Wantwood School in 1939. He joked the school got its name because it was always in need of firewood.
The school, which later closed and became part of Wairau Valley School, still sits in the school grounds and looked almost the same, he said.
Wantwood School had a cloakroom, a passage and an open fire at the back end of the building.
Other events during the weekend included cutting the jubilee cake, decade photos, a dinner and dance and the planting of a time capsule, which would not be unearthed for 25 years.
- Marlborough
SIMON WONG
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