LEWISTON – There were “ooh”s at the music room and “ahh”s at the grand performance stage.

In the library, parents marveled at the plush bean bag chairs and full bookshelves. In the gym, older students stood awestruck, eyes wide at the four basketball hoops.

Outside, younger children shrieked happily at the colorful new playground, complete with slides and places to climb.

“I’ve went on a lot of playgrounds,” said 5-year-old Mackenzie Valentine. “It was my favorite playground.”

Parents and students got their first look at the new Farwell Elementary School on Thursday. And they were pleased.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Matthew Richard, touring his daughter’s bright, new first-grade classroom. “I think it has what a child would want, what a parent would want out of a school and what a teacher would want to provide. It’s long overdue.”

Built in the 1950s, the old Farwell school was cramped and crumbling. The roof leaked. Heating, plumbing and electrical systems needed to be replaced. There were too few classrooms and too little storage. More than 300 students had to share just two bathrooms.

In 2002, the Maine Department of Education named Farwell the 10th-neediest school in Maine.

Lewiston voters agreed to replace the school with a $10.7 million building on the same site. For the past year and a half, Farwell’s classes have been held at the Holy Family building while workers built the new school.

Next week, the new Farwell will open with separate spaces for music, art, gym and lunch. It will offer wide windows, high ceilings and storage. All classrooms will have state-of-the art technology, and some will have their own bathrooms.

“Every day I walk in, I pinch myself,” said Principal Linda St. Andre, who’s spent the past three weeks getting the new building ready.

About 380 students from pre-K to grade 6 are expected to attend the first day of school next week. On Thursday, hundreds of students and parents arrived for a sneak peek.

“It’s fantastic. It’s awesome. Huge change,” said Tom Bureau, whose son, Damon, will start fourth grade.

Damon liked the middle-school sized gym. His father liked the library.

“They have all the more advantages now,” Tom said.

Down the hall, Mackenzie Valentine and her mom, Lindsay, checked out Mackenzie’s kindergarten classroom. Mackenzie favored the playground. Mom liked the large classroom, its layout and bright colors.

The Valentine family moved from Greene this summer just so Mackenzie could go to the school.

“It looks like she’ll be really comfortable here,” Lindsay said.

Around the building, other parents lauded the upgraded technology, including the built-in computer projectors in each classroom. A few said they liked the new school’s security system best.

Double front doors allow visitors to enter the building and talk to office personnel, but they prevent visitors from accessing the rest of the building unless they’re buzzed in.

“For me, that’s piece of mind,” Matthew Richard said.

But most everyone – parents, students and teachers – said the very best part was the building’s fresh feel.

A school is only as good as its teachers, Richard said, but “it makes it a lot easier in a brand new facility.”