For anyone who didn’t know, a raft of clues at Pioneer Elementary reveal it only very recently opened for business.

Landscapers were planting a line of shrubs in front of the school on Friday. Inside, cutout cardboard lettering above a stuffed horse in a display cabinet announces a competition to name the horse.

Pioneer is the “Home of the Mustangs.” Bookkeeper Polly Stevens said the toy was won in a raffle at the Suffolk March of Dimes’ March for Babies, and the competition is to name what will become the official school mascot.

The new principal is another clue. Danielle Belton has taken the helm from Chris Phillips, who officially was Pioneer’s first principal — in a lateral move from the old Southwestern Elementary — before he left just a few weeks into the school year for the challenge of trying to turn around a struggling school in Alexandria.

“I was interim assistant principal while he (Phillips) was here, so he had a chance to transition me in,” Belton said.

“My goal was to carry over and continue some of his goals and objectives seamlessly — to continue to support the division-wide initiatives.”

Last year, Belton was assistant principal at Northern Shores Elementary School. In 2012-2013 — her first year with Suffolk Public Schools — she was a special education teacher at John Yeates Middle School.

Further back in her resume, she was supervisor of federal programs with Petersburg City Public Schools, principal and leadership coach at a Bassette Elementary School in Hampton, and principal at Charles City Elementary School.

Prior to that, she was an adjunct online facilitator with George Washington University, and an assistant principal with York County Schools, Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind and Gloucester High School.

Among Belton’s educational qualifications, along with a Master of Arts in Special Education, she also earned an MBA from Hampton University. Her Doctor of Education in Educational Administration and Policy is from George Washington.

Belton said all staff at the school — including 34 teachers and 11 teacher assistants — have worked together for a smooth start at the new school for approximately 533 students and their families. District head office has provided a lot of assistance, she added.

Among highlights so far, she cited a Partners in Education launch, two Parent-Teacher Association meetings and Grandparents Week.

Excitement was in the air Friday for Pioneer’s first Fall Festival that evening. “We’ve sold lots of tickets for it,” Belton said.

The majority of Belton’s family lives back in Pennsylvania, where she was raised. But she’s lived in Virginia for 29 years, having moved to Suffolk in 2010.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity to live and work in the same community,” Belton said of joining Suffolk Public Schools in 2012.

After its first batch of students streamed through the front doors Sept. 2, Pioneer Elementary already has a strong sense of pride, according to Belton.

“It’s very much a community-based school,” she said.