Pictures show how a former secondary school is in the process of being reduced to a pile of rubble.

Demolition work at The Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury has sped up in the past week, with long-standing classrooms crushed to pieces.

The site, left empty since 2015, had become overgrown with ivy during its five years of neglect.

Despite petitions to keep it open, the Spring Lane school closed its doors after falling standards and dwindling student numbers led the county council to declare it “no longer viable”.

Now, the bulldozers have moved in and ripped down old buildings dating back to the 1960s.

In its place will be built a modernised non-selective secondary school run by Barton Court Academy Trust.

The trust announced last year the new £20 million establishment, planned to be open for Year 7 pupils in September 2021, will be called Barton Manor School.

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Canterbury has been deemed as an area "in desperate need" of a new school in order to cope with the ever-increasing demand for places caused by huge housing developments planned for the city.

The closure of the Chaucer, which was originally called the Canterbury Technical School for Boys and opened in 1967, was announced in 2014 before the last lessons were held the following year.

In January 2019, the new-build was set back by 12 months due to protracted negotiations delaying its development.

KCC admitted in March that it may have to "open in temporary accommodation for a short period" in September 2021.

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