The tiny home school became a proper school in 1869 and, 150 years on, the school still stands in David Street.

The school celebrated its sesquicentenary with special events and guests on Friday.

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A school family buried a time capsule in the grounds, student Rivva Gardner was presented with the inaugural Rebecca Lucy Walker Cup, and children's author and illustrator Gus Gordon made a speech that had everyone in giggles.

The Namoi Valley Independent looks back on the history and what the place means to the school family today.

Carroll was first settled in 1838 and is one of the oldest settlements in the Namoi region.

John and James Howe took up land along the Namoi River and named their holding Carroll from an Aboriginal word meaning "a forked tree".

Early records show there were only three buildings in the small town in that year.

Years later, Rebecca Lucy Walker first opened up her home to 30 children of Carroll in 1867 for a makeshift school.

A dividing wall was knocked down to provide a large room for classes to be held in, but residents soon realised more had to be done.

They applied for provisional status to be provided by the Council of Education until locals could afford to build their own school.

After years of no luck, in August 1869 the school was given provisional status.

The school was later transferred to a new building on the government reserve.

The playground was two acres, but the school was "really a little hut", according to the Gunnedah and District Historical Society: 9.75m long and 4.87m wide, with 2.74m walls.

The one-room building had walls made of slab, a shingle roof, a wooden chimney and three glass windows.

In 1881, Mr Inspector Frewin Thompson visited and was "not exactly impressed with the building".

"The roof, which is constructed of shingles, is not in good repair and considerable leakage takes place in wet weather," he said.

"The fireplace, being situated at the furthest extremity of the room, little, if any benefit, is finally experienced from a fire when kindled.

"The furniture is sufficient, but is old and cumbersome."

In 1879, the school gained public school status. Shortly after, a new and more substantial building was erected.

Mrs Walker was replaced as a teacher by John Gould, who had formal teacher training.

From here on, the school was knocked down and rebuilt numerous times due to greater numbers of students, poor craftsmanship and other reasons.

Parents, supported by the local progress association, started to refuse to send their children to school until repairs had been made.

In 1915, a new building was erected by contractor TJ Bowen of Gunnedah, at a cost of £600.

This formed the foundation of today's school.

There have been upgrades in the years since, including the removal of the memory-filled hall in the 1980s, and the opening of the new Telba Library on Friday.

Ex-student and great-grandson of Mrs Walker, Don Walker, attended the celebrations and reminisced on his time at the school from 1938 to 1942.

He said "schooling was much the same", the main exception being technology.

"Technology makes a big difference ... life has come and gone," Mr Walker said.

He said his father had also attended Carroll school. At the time, it had trenches dug out for potential air raids during World War I.

He presented the Rebecca Lucy Walker Cup to Rivva, saying he felt "privileged" to do so in honour of his great-grandmother's place in history.

"After 150 years, it's great to see that happen," he said.

"In 150 years of public schooling you can write the history of Australia."

The ex-student visits the school "periodically" when he's in the area. He lives at The Entrance on the Central Coast.

Wendy Anderson, nee Keeler, was also at Friday's celebrations. Now living in Gunnedah, she attended from 1961 to 1967.

Fond memories from her school days included playing on the gym made out of logs, sewing and cooking classes, and spending time in the school hall, which has since been knocked down.

"We had so much fun [in the hall] ... it was a sad day when the old hall was [removed]," Mrs Anderson told the Namoi Valley Independent.

She said she "didn't want to go to high school; I just wanted to stay here".

Ex-student Belinda Gardner, who still lives in Carroll, attended the school from 1973 to 1980. Rivva is her grandson.

She said she was very pleased he was following in her footsteps.

"It's awesome that another generation is coming through. He really enjoys it ... so hopefully he keeps his friendships also," she said.

"I'll try to be out there as much as possible when things happen, so I can enjoy it with him."

She said she hoped he would keep the friendships from primary school into the future, like she did.

"It's a great little school to go through; we've still got friendships today," Ms Gardner said.

"We all knew each other. Even in school and out of school we were mates. There's still some of us 'round here that grew up together."

Just after Ms Gardner finished, Casey Mills started at the school and attended until 1987.

She thoroughly enjoyed the excursions to the snow, Sydney and Brisbane, and said it was "good to be back" for the day.

She now lives in Narrabri.

The school now has 28 students from kindergarten to year 6, three teachers, and one teacher's aide.

Principal Rebecca Dowe has been running the show since 2017.

Mrs Dowe has taught at schools in Boggabri, Gunnedah, Tamworth, Armidale and more in the past, but she believes Carroll Public School's children are "amazing" and "probably the best students I've worked with".

"People like the atmosphere, the feeling you get when you walk in the door; and the children are always happy to see visitors to the school - they're always very polite," Mrs Dowe said.

She said the 150-year celebrations were important for a small community like Carroll.

"They're quite passionate about their school, and I think that still being here after 150 years is a pretty big milestone," she said.