A PART of Dursley’s history has started to be chipped away as the town’s secondary school is slowly demolished.

However as the old Rednock building is reduced to rubble the finishing touches are being put on the town’s new £28 million state-of-the-art school.

Coming in on time and in budget Rednock is one of the first out of 14 schools that were given grants under the government’s Building Schools for the Future programme, launched in 2005, to be completed.

Designed partly by the pupils the school is a modern hub for education with almost futuristic style schemes such as access cards that allow students into the school, library and will act as a credit style card for buying lunch from the canteen. David Alexander, head teacher of the school, said everyone is waiting in anticipation to move into the new school.

"I think everybody has finally realised this is going to become a reality, there is just a feeling of impatience to get in there. It is such a magnificent building, it is so good to walk through the doors and see what we are getting.

"It is with mixed emotions that I watch the old building being demolished, it is quite sad really to see it go, but we need to look at what our students are going to get in the future, an absolutely fantastic new school."

The old school building will be gradually demolished over the next three months, with contractors on site carefully removing asbestos from the roofs and taking each building down piece by piece, keeping all valuable materials to reuse or recycle.

Last month members from Dursley Tabernacle Church loaded up a van full of old desks to donate to the Peace and Hope Trust, which works in deprived areas of Nicaragua.

A team of volunteers from the church left for the South American country a few weeks ago and will ensure the desks are taken to schools in need of basic furniture.

The space that is left from the demolition will be made into a large social and games space for pupils with a full sized grass pitch, basket ball and netball courts, running track and outdoor amphitheatre for drama productions.

Students are reminded that they will return to the school staggered over two days in September. Year seven, 11 and 12 will return on Monday, September 7 and years eight, nine and 10 will return the following day – both must report to the main school hall, accessed by the rear entrance.

The school is offering the public the opportunity to have a tour of their new building on Saturday, September 26 from 9.30 – 11.30am. To book a tour telephone 01453 543144 between the hours of 9am – 4pm on August 17. The tours are by pre-booking only and there will be a limited number of spaces.