ALMOST 80 years of memories have come crashing down as a much-loved Kingswinford School building has been demolished.

The academy’s dining hall, which has been standing since the Water Street-based school was founded in 1939, is to make way for a state-of-the-art refectory which will be available for students to eat healthily whilst honing their social skills.

A new dining hall has been funded thanks to a £1.5 million grant which the school was awarded by the Department for Education.

Just over £1m is set to be spent on the new eating area and kitchens – which are set to be completed in the summer – with £570k being used to replace windows throughout the site.

Diggers moved onto the site this week in preparation for the demolition which started yesterday (March 10).

Headteacher Bronwyn Hedley said the staff and governors were “absolutely thrilled” to receive the cash and were raring to get the latest project under way.

She said: “This is definitely a historic moment for the school and we cannot wait to see work start. We are absolutely over the moon.

“Our dinner staff are very sad to see the old dining hall go, and we have had a number of former pupils reminisce about how much the hall meant to them, as it was the main social area for the school.

“But everyone is very excited to for our new refectory, which is going to be twice the size of the old one, and we are looking forward to forming new memories there.”

The grant was the fifth consecutive successful bid by the school over the last three years, with the academy receiving £2.6 million in total.

Previous successful bids saw three brand new English classrooms and the redesign of a science laboratory, music room with recording studio, drama studio, as well as food technology, textiles and art rooms.

Mrs Hedley added: “We have certainly to given the school a new lease of life and refurbished some of the older classrooms.

“We also feel this plan is a way of making sure that the whole school can benefit and supports our motto of ‘the successful education of the whole child’.”