Pupils donned hard hats and boots as they helped to mark the official start of a school expansion scheme.
The youngsters from Robert Bloomfield Middle School joined invited dignitaries for the ground-breaking ceremony at the school in Bloomfield Lane, Shefford.
Work is taking place there to build a new two-storey classroom block, which is due to be open in time for the 2015/16 academic year.
The new block, which will have eight classrooms and a room for children with special educational needs, will be for Year 5 pupils joining the middle school.
The £1.615million scheme will increase the amount of places the already oversubscribed school can offer from 210 to 240, as well as upping its overall capacity from 720 to 840 places.
The project is being delivered by the Bedfordshire East Schools Trust, under whose umbrella the school falls, having become an academy in May 2011.
Among the dignitaries at the ceremony were Central Beds Council’s executive member for children’s services Cllr Mark Versallion, Chairman Cllr Caroline Maudlin, Chief Executive Richard Carr and Mid Beds MP Nadine Dorries.
Cllr Versallion said: “There is a growing population in the catchment area of Robert Bloomfield Middle School and this new classroom block will help to meet that demand.”
Principal Adrian Rogers added: “This new block will offer pastoral care and security to Year 5 students. We have pupils joining from 25 lower schools, and this means they can have their own place rather than having to go straight into a really big school.”