Ring roads close to old-fashioned school (8)
I believe the answer is:
bypasses
'ring roads' is the definition.
('bypass' can be a synonym of 'ring road')
'close to old-fashioned school' is the wordplay.
'close to' becomes 'by' (close by).
'old-fashioned' becomes 'passe' (synonyms).
'school' becomes 'S'.
'by'+'passe'+'s'='BYPASSES'
(Other definitions for bypasses that I've seen before include "Goes over someone's head" , "Goes around" .)