PART of a school where thousands of young people have been educated over the years has been reduced to rubble.

Demolition is underway at the former St Augustine of Canterbury School, off Lyngford Road, in Taunton, which closed in 2010.

It is making way for a new £9 million school of up to 80 students with special educational needs.

The new school, which is expected to open in September 2019, would be an expansion of the existing Selworthy School, in Selworthy School.

It will cater for secondary age and post-16 students, while primary age children would continue to be educated on the existing campus.

The development would allow Selworthy to cater for up to 150 students aged four to 19 across the two sites - about double its current roll number.

St Augustine's, along with Ladymead School, on Cheddon Road, closed in 2010 ahead of the establishment of Taunton Academy on the latter's school campus.