From 1820 the Wesleyan Boys' Day School was run in a building at the rear of the chapel in New Inn Hall Street. New premises were built in Bulwarks Lane, then another room was added in 1834.
The appointment of a new headmaster in 1859 led to the broadening of the school's curriculum to include scientific and technical studies, and there was a further increase in accommodation. The school was also referred to as the Oxford City Science School. In 1870 257 boys attended.
By the 1920s the school needed improvements, but these proving too expensive, the establishment was closed in 1928. Pupils were transferred to the Central School nearby.
The records of the school in this collection cover the years 1863-1928. An Old Boys' Association was formed in 1922 and revived in 1934. Its financial records, as well as press cuttings and details of a reunion in 1968 have also been catalogued here. This material was originally listed by the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies, so a conspectus of the corresponding old and new references is included at the end of the catalogue.
Catalogued by Mark Priddey, December 1993 with additions by Alison Smith in August 2013 and February 2023.