Hundreds of people are expected in Katikati this weekend to relive their childhoods as the local college celebrates five decades in operation and 150 years of education in town.

Organiser Steve Graveson is expecting 400 past students to attend a nostalgia evening tonight after the reunion kicked off last night with a town and college band concert.

'About 650 people are registered for the reunion for the long weekend,” says Steve.

'And this includes people who attended the college right through the years – from the 1940s right through to the 2000s.”

'And they are coming from all over – in fact all over the world.”

Steve says Katikati College was built on its current Beach Rd site in 1966 – making it 50 years old this year – but ‘school was in' in Katikati well before that.

'The Ulster settlers started looking at building a school in Katikati in 1896,” says Steve. 'Because their children's education was quite important to them – and a lot of them built the schools before they built their own houses.”

The Katikati pioneers built more than four schools in the Katikati area. They were Katikati No. 1 School at Kauri Point; Katikati No. 2 School at Beach Rd, Katikati No. 3 School at Waitekohe and Katikati No. 4 School at Apata. There was also several other schools that at various times went under the same names.

Steve says the first school in the district at Kauri Point – called Katikati No 1. School – was built about 1877 on the corner of Ongare Point and Kauri Point roads.

'Then the settlers built the one in Katikati in 1879 – called Katikati No. 2 school – that is where Katikati Primary School is today.”

'The settlers had to raise all of the funds by themselves. Town founder George Vesey Stewart's wife had to give them a loan.”

And in 1935 Katikati No 2. School became Katikati District High School. And by about 1950 the school was separated into the Katikati Primary School and Katikati College.

'So the secondary school operated for a number of years across the road at the primary – it was a district high back in those days,” says Steve

And at the beginning of 1966 Katikati District High School was translated to a new type of school – a Form 1 to Form 6 college.

Today Katikati College is a Year 7-13 co-educational rural school of 860 students.

Steve says tonight's nostalgia night is a meet and greet and catch up event.

'It's not going to be very formal – it will be a chance for school mates to catch up and class pupils to meet up again – and relive their childhoods,” says Steve.

Tomorrow the college is offering a day of free activities including an official opening and powhiri outside Poutama on the front school field at 10am, and the annual Past versus Present competition from 11.30am

'Saturday's Past Versus Present sports tournament is where past students challenge present students in rugby, hockey, netball and soccer.”

'And I think there will be a few different games – of past versus past – because there's few a different people willing to don the boots again.”

There will also be school tours form 12pm-3pm – assemble outside the Action centre – and Decades photos being taken from 1pm – starting with the 1940s – to 2010-2016 students at 2.10pm.

Tomorrow night a reunion dinner at Action centre will be a night of food, entertainment and mingling, says Steve. 'People had to register for this dinner and the Nostalgia Night on tonight.”

Sunday concludes the weekend, with a church service at Katikati St Peter's Anglican Church and a board of Trustees luncheon.”

'And there are free school tours on Sunday afternoon from 12pm-2pm if people are interested.”