In 1604 the hamlet of Dulwich, its name recorded well before the Norman Conquests, was bought by the Elizabethan actor and entrepreneur, Edward Alleyn, for £4,900.

Fourteen years later, Alleyn invested his fortune establishing the College of God's Gift, buying land for a school, a chapel and the alms houses in Dulwich.

In June 1741 James Allen, Master of the College of God's Gift from 1723, founded the original Reading School for poor children, both boys and girls living in Dulwich.

Classes were growing in size and moved into an empty old inn building near the village crossroads and was renamed the Dulwich Free School.

Botany Gardens were created in the school grounds soon after Dr Lilian Clarke joined the staff in 1895.

By 1916 a school orchestra emerged for the first time and in 1920 JAGS girls participated in Holst’s 4th Thaxted Festival in Essex as a farewell to the composer.