Teachers, staff and students at Captain Johnston Blakely Elementary gathered for a groundbreaking celebration for their new school.

Bainbridge Island School District officials and school board directors, along with the architects and builders of the new facility, all grabbed shovels for the ceremonial scoops of earth to mark the beginning of construction work for the replacement Blakely.

Earth-moving on the grounds of the current school for the new school — which will span 63,814 square feet (enough space for 450 pre-K through fourth-grade students) — recently got underway.

District Superintendent Peter Bang-Knudsen led students with the school chant of “Blakely is the best!”

“You are going to have an amazing new school,” he said.

The existing school will be torn down next summer as the remainder of the new facility is finished.

The proposed final completion date for the building and site is Dec. 1, 2019.