Eye-catching aerial photos show how Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School has rapidly turned into a construction site this summer.

A major £20 million rebuild project is in process at the Old Dover Road site in Canterbury with foundations for a modernised teaching block and sports hall being laid.

Work began four weeks ago and will continue throughout the rest of this year and next.

The current dilapidated buildings at the school, which date back to the 1950s, will be demolished at a later stage after the new-builds have been completed.

It means pupils heading back to school this week will be taught in the usual classrooms.

It is hoped the new three-storey teaching block - which is being built on part of the existing visitor car park, the current playground and part of the playing field - will be completed at the end of 2020 - paving the way for the demolition of the old school to begin.

Ashford-based firm GSE Building & Civil Engineering Ltd is currently working on the scheme and completing all groundworks, foundations, drainage and concrete to upper floors.

Its managing director Tony Bowles said: “This is a great project for us to work on as it really lends itself to our strengths as a groundworks company.

"We have a great team on site who, as you can see from the images that have been taken, are making fantastic progress.”

An inspection of the school’s old buildings carried out in autumn 2017 uncovered more than 600 defects.

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