Groundbreaking for the new Niverville high school Friday morning was met with applause and celebration.

Members of the Hanover School Division, the provincial government, and local community leaders met at the site of the new school to ceremoniously kick off the construction process.

HSD Board Chair Ron Falk says this was truly a fantastic day for the school division and the growing community of Niverville. He notes in the time since the new high school was announced in June 2017, a huge amount of work has taken place to get ready for this sod turning.

"Normally it would take probably about a year for planning, another maybe a year and a half for building. The timelines were extremely tight here. We had maybe six months to do the planning and everybody had to really step to the plate. From the school division, the Town of Niverville, the developer, the architects just worked together and made it happen."

Falk says the new school will also spur on new growth in Niverville as those thinking of moving to the community will see it has up to date facilities that can handle more students.

Niverville Mayor Myron Dyck says this new school has been something that has been on the minds of residents for many years. He thanked both the HSD and provincial government for being receptive to the innovative idea of combining the new school with their proposed Community Resource Centre for a community campus that would benefit the whole town.

"When the school was announced, all of a sudden the idea was ‘could this be something that would be better together?’ It was just an idea, it had never been done before. We are so thankful that the province had an open mind, we are thankful that the Hanover School Division was a willing partner in this so that yes what you are hearing about is a community campus which was said here by our provincial officials that would serve as model for the future."

The Hanover School Division will be taking community suggestions for the as yet unnamed school. The 66,700 square foot school will accommodate 450 grade 9-12 students with possible future expansion bringing capacity to 550 students. The school will be built in two phase. The first phase will include everything but the band room, drama room, and child-care services and will be completed by September 2019. The second phase will include all remaining spaces and will be completed by spring 2020.

The Hanover School Division also announced the first principal of the new Niverville high school. Kimberly Funk will move from her job as the vice-principal of Landmark Collegiate to take the reigns in Niverville.

Read more: HSD Awards $18,450,000 Tender For Niverville High School

An artists rendering of what the new Niverville high school will look like