The Ryleys School Alumni

Great news!

The Ryleys School have been successful in achieving our official accreditation for the Wellbeing Award for Schools. 🥳

Work started in 2019 and the assessment took into account the continuous effort made to create a healthy, balanced environment for pupils and staff.

💛🖤

On the last Tuesday of this term, we’d like to say a huge thank you to all the Alumni that volunteered to take part in our Time Travel Tuesday feature this year.

Thank you for taking the time to share such varied and interesting memories of school days gone by. Some stories have illustrated how much things have changed over the years, and others reminded us that our core values have remained the same, creating strong independent children with the skills and confidence to approach whatever life brings in a positive manner.

After the Easter break, we will be communicating some details of an Alumni event and look forward to welcoming many more former pupils back to the school.

With specialist PE lessons starting at age 3, sport is a big part of school life at The Ryleys. We offer a wide range of sports including swimming, tennis, hockey and of course football.

The children work on their skills during PE throughout the years and participate in inter-school tournaments. Every breaktime, the astro pitches are full of pupils practising their skills and reenacting famous footballing celebrations.

8 years ago Manchester United Central Midfielder and Welsh International, Charlie Savage, was one of those playground footballers.

Thank you Charlie for taking part in our Time Travel Tuesday features. You are a fantastic role model for our young ambitious pupils and after an incredible start, we look forward to seeing how your career progresses over the coming years. Keep in touch.
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1. When did you attend The Ryleys?

I attended The Ryleys from age 3-11, so from 2006-2014

2. Where did you go after The Ryleys?

After The Ryleys I went to Manchester Grammar School, then at 16 I left to go to Ashton on Mersey College (Man Utd. College). This allowed me to do college part time whilst also more importantly giving me more time to pursue my football full time.

3. Do you keep in touch with friends from your time here?

Yes, I am still in contact with the majority of my friends from The Ryleys. I often meet up with them at weekends.

4. Do you have a favourite memory from school?

My favourite memory was probably sports day in Macclesfield. I loved going every year and participating in the sports events - hopefully my 600m record hasn’t been broken!

5. Can you provide a short career summary so far?

I joined Man Utd. at age 5. After playing for the academy for 12 users I then, at age 17, signed my first professional contract. In December last year aged 18, I made my first team debut in the Champions League at Old Trafford in front of 75,000 people which was very nerve wracking! I also play for the Wales national team.

6. Do you have any top tips for pupils or parents considering The Ryleys?

I loved The Ryleys. It served as the perfect stepping stone for senior school. Not only was the sport department great, but the education was amazing too. The school was also was great with my sporting commitments, allowing me to pursue my football.

7. Any final words?

I would recommend The Ryleys to all parents/pupils. The school has a real family feel to it and provided me with memories I can cherish forever.

The Ryleys School - Not just for boys!

We currently have a fairly even split of boys and girls at the school. This weeks Time Travel Tuesday edition features one of the first girls to attend The Ryleys when it became co-ed in 2010, having been a boys school since 1877.

Thank you to Jade for sharing your interesting story.
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When did you attend The Ryleys School?
I joined in Year 5 when the school first accepted girls in 2010.

Where did you go after The Ryleys School?
I have always loved music and was lucky enough to be accepted into The Chetham's School of Music when I was 11. Chetham’s is the largest specialist Music School in the UK and is the only one based in the north of England. I played the oboe and also piano.

What is your favourite memory of your time at The Ryleys School?
I had some really lovely friends and of course the music department was very good. We did lots of school productions and performances which I enjoyed. I remember really enjoying PE with Mrs Jones.

Are you still in touch with anyone from your time here?
Yes. I still talk to lots of my friends from school.

A short career summary?
I stayed at Chets until I graduated 8 years later. During the time I did lots of concerto performances and developed an enjoyment of coaching others.
Towards the end of my studies, I completed some volunteer work back at The Ryleys which I really enjoyed.
Now I am a full time music teacher at The Ryleys School teaching music to pupils from age 1 to 11. It's great to see the next generation and so many talented pupils taking their first steps in music, just as I did. It's amazing to see how quickly they pick it all up and how much enjoyment they get from it.

Any final words?
I would advise you to take all the opportunities that The Ryleys has to offer. You'll love it!

The Ryleys School is privileged to have a large number of international families choose us. We currently have 31 non British pupils learning with us.

The teachers and pupils are familiar with helping families become accustomed to UK school life and enjoy learning all about the different countries our pupils come from.

The Ryleys School has always been a favourite choice for relocating families, as this week's Transatlantic Time Travel Tuesday edition illustrates.

Thank you John McCarten for volunteering these interesting memories from the 1970s.

If you were a pupil at The Ryleys School, we'd love to hear from you. e-mail [email protected], or message us on here.
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When did you attend The Ryleys School?
I attended the Ryleys from 74 - 78. We had recently moved from America as my dad had got a job in Manchester.

What is your favourite memory of The Ryleys School?
I played rugby cricket and football in every year as I recall. I loved playing sports. Pat Barrett was my favourite coach and also my favourite teacher.

Do you keep in touch with friends you made during your time here?
Sadly I have lost touch with all of the people I met at the Ryleys. Although I have recently connected with Mark Higham on Facebook. He was at the Ryleys at the same time I was.

Where did you go after The Ryleys School?
After I left the Ryleys, I went to Hulme Hall and then on to Macclesfield College. I went to University in America for one year, came home to help my Mum look after my Dad as he was suffering from cancer. On my return I went to Manchester Poly to study economics.

A short career summary?
I moved back to America in 1992. I am an avid cyclist and spent 6 years working in bike shops. Sales mainly.
I have been selling computer aided design software for a company in north eastern Pennsylvania for the last 17 years.

What advice would you have for pupils / parents considering The Ryleys School?
I would say that attending the Ryleys is a character building experience. I know most of who I am now was created during my time at The Ryleys School.

After our short Half Term break, we are happy to return with a very interesting Time Travel Tuesday edition.

Thank you to Paul Brennan for sharing this really interesting insight into his time at The Ryleys, following its merger with Harden House School in the early 1960s.

We'd love to hear more from any alumni. Please share our page and hopefully we can increase our community.


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When did you attend The Ryleys School?
I went to Harden House Prep School in Alderley in 1962, and when that school merged (lock stock and barrel i.e. all school pupils and school teachers moved across) in 1963/64(?) I joined Ryleys, in Elstob, until I left after Common Entrance in 1970. Of course, the fact the Ryleys tie still has a blue stripe in it, and the playing fields are where they are is due to HH having blue/grey as their colours and those fields originally being next to HH school - which later became a hotel and after many (sad) years as a boarded up place is just in the process of being demolished

Where did you go after The Ryleys School?
Along with many I went onto Shrewsbury School

What is your favourite memory of your time at The Ryleys School? Probably our football team and focus on football. The Maths teacher was also our football coach and had played some soccer for Wolves I believe as a young man (although he was of course still young in the 1960s!). Don Capes by name- no idea what became of him. He and an English/History teacher called David Sharples pushed us along to be quite a good local team. David actually left teaching and joined the Church in the late 1960s , and a few years ago was still alive albeit now retired from the Church and living in the Salford area. Our team was enhanced by us wearing quite smart - for the time- proper soccer strips in yellow with black piping that came to us via Umbro, as the original owners had a son at the school (indeed in my year).

Do you keep in touch with friends you made during your time here?
Sadly not. In those days , as one moved onto other schools, contact drifted. No mobile tel. numbers and email addresses in those days, just a phone number/address of ones friends parents, so harder to maintain dialogue!.

A short career summary?
After Shrewsbury and a Business Degree from Manchester University I joined the corporate world and over 30 years climbed the greasy pole via major PLCs and VC backed organisations in brewing, retail, financial services and private healthcare. Then for the last 10 years of my career I used my expertise and experience as a management and marketing consultant

What advice would you have for pupils / parents considering The Ryleys School?
Whilst clearly it is a very different school now than when I attended, the whole ethos of private schools and the focus on the pupils, at an impressionable age , I still believe is well worth pursuing.

Any final words?
Thanks for the chance to share some thoughts. Where have the past 60 years gone - all in the blink of an eye!! Intriguing to know if any of the original Harden House pupils are still in contact and what they have to say about their lives and what they may know happened to any past pupils/teachers at HH and Ryleys.

This weeks Time Travel Tuesday edition, features a story of a young pupil, chasing her dreams. 🩰

Like all pupils, Ayva enjoyed a range of performing arts experiences whilst at The Ryleys. These opportunities, combined with her exceptional natural talent, and dedication to dance training outside of school, led to her being offered a place at the prestigious vocational dance school, The Hammond.

The school boasts a long list of successful graduates both in the West End and International Ballet Companies.

Below, Ayva modestly talks about her achievements. We are excited to see what happens next and look forward to watching her perform on stage very soon.

Bravo, Ayva! 🩰
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When did you attend The Ryleys School? Year 2 to Year 6 (2014 - 2018

· What is your favourite memory of your time at The Ryleys School?
Competing in the Alderley Edge Festival singing ‘Quiet’ from Matilda the Musical, its was a great opportunity for me to practice for auditions and I was placed 2nd in a strong class.

· Do you keep in touch with friends you made during your time here?
I haven’t seen anyone since we left at the end if year 6 but I have kept in touch with some people by text and phone.

· Where did you go after The Ryleys School?
I went to a local secondary school for 2 years until I successfully auditioned for the performing arts school that I go to now.

· What has been your biggest success so far?
Getting a place at The Hammond School

· Your ambitions for your future?
I would love to be a professional dancer. My goal is to be part of a West End show.

· What advice would you have for pupils / parents considering The Ryleys School?
You will make friends really quickly. It will be a nice small year group and you will have a lot of opportunities to perform in school plays and concerts which you don’t always get in other primary schools. The education itself will prepare you very well for secondary school and don’t be afraid to ask a question, teachers will always help you and there is extra help if you need it.

Finally, just enjoy your time at The Ryleys, it will go a lot quicker than you think!

It's time for another 'Time Travel Tuesday' edition with the fantastic Robert Butler, a pupil here in the late 1990s.

We are so proud of all our former pupils and love to hear the exciting things they have gone on to do.

Thank you for participating. We sincerely hope you enjoyed reminiscing.
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When did you attend The Ryleys School?
I attended The Ryleys School from Nursery and I left after Year 6 in 2003.

Where did you go after The Ryleys School?
After The Ryleys, I went on to Cheadle Hulme School.

What is your favourite memory of your time at The Ryleys School?
I loved the annual Sports Day. It was always full of excitement, buzzing with activity and a lot of fun to see the parents get involved in the egg and spoon race!

Do you keep in touch with friends you made during your time here?
I do still keep in touch with friends from The Ryleys. A few of them also went onto Cheadle Hulme School and we’re still good friends today. I occasionally bump into other old friends too and we always have a good catch up.

A short career summary
I now work as a Business Development Manager for a global software consultancy. We help deliver technical solutions for large organisations as well as supporting learning and development in local tech communities.

What advice would you have for pupils / parents considering The Ryleys School?
The Ryleys is a wonderful school with a rich history and great reputation. One thing you always here is that pupils who attended the school are always polite, well mannered and well rounded people!

Any final words?
It’s lovely to be asked to contribute to Time Travel Tuesday! After nearly 20 years since I left The Ryleys I’ve really enjoyed casting my mind back all those years and reflecting on a wonderful part of my childhood.

We are pleased to introduce the incredibly talented Joss Naylor in this week's edition of 'Time Travel Tuesday'. Although a slightly more recent graduate of the school, we are sure that you will find what he has to say interesting and inspiring. Thank you for sharing your story, Joss. We can't wait to see what happens next and have every confidence you will achieve your dreams.
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When did you attend The Ryleys School?
I left at the end of Year 6 in 2018, to go to Manchester Grammar School.

What is your favourite memory of your time at The Ryleys School?
My favourite memories are working on the kit car, and going to Plas Menai. There’s something very satisfying about pushing yourself to your limits and working hard and I think the Ryleys manifests that, while also being a lot of fun!!

Do you keep in touch with friends you made during your time at the Ryleys?
I chat with my friends from Ryleys literally every day. Sometimes they shout out of car windows when they see me; their parents do too! The parent group at the Ryleys, as well as the student group, are still really close, and I know that the friends I made at the Ryleys will be my friends for life.

A short career summary
Currently I am in Year 10 and preparing for my GCSEs. My biggest successes have been the fact that I am consistently towards the top of my year at Manchester Grammar since Year 7, being one of the fifteen students in my year (of 220) to have received a High Master’s Commendation for academic achievement.

I have also written a number of essays about the environment and agriculture, which have been widely shared through Facebook to critical acclaim (even from a professor from the University of Vancouver), and been published by the National Farmers’ Union. In addition, I am currently doing a series of interviews on my YouTube channel, “jo55ss”, which have included former Manchester United chairman, Martin Edwards; and have been well-received.

However, I’d say that the most important success of mine has come from my personal development physically:

I have Cerebral Palsy, a brain injury from birth that affects me physically - before my surgery, I could not sit, stand, walk or naturally swallow, and surprisingly, talk either - however, once I started, I couldn’t shut up, and still haven’t! I had Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery when I was three and a half years old, which involved having 1/3 of my spinal cord surgically cut, which came with considerable risk at the time. Since then, my rehabilitation challenges have been steep, but also an opportunity which I grasped with both hands (and feet). Just the fact that I am able to walk unaided still astonishes me and those around me even now, twelve years on. It is the thing that has seriously changed my life, and my abilities now are something that I do not take for granted and never will.

In the future, I would like to go to Cambridge University to study Economics, although I’m not quite sure what occupation I would like to take up yet - I have been interested in both business and journalism for a long time, as well as sports management, especially football (I’m a massive Manchester United fan), and value the use of data in all three topics. I want to do Economics, because I feel it is a broad subject, so I am not putting all of my eggs in one basket at an early part in my life. I also appreciate the links I can find between different topics and I feel Economics plays to my academic strengths of English, Maths, History and Geography.

What advice would you have for pupils / parents considering The Ryleys School?
Before Ryleys, I was at two local state schools. A single term in, the difference was clear. The teachers were enthusiastic and they taught you as an individual, so my personal needs were met. I was stretched educationally and given the opportunity to expand my own understanding of the world around me, because there was never a glass ceiling to my education at the Ryleys. It was always about the individual and allowed me to challenge not only myself, but also my teachers, and I was always encouraged to ask more questions - the attitude you need to get in to the top secondary schools and onward to the top universities.

I’ve had regular contact with The Ryleys since I left, and I hope this will continue, as I follow my dream to Cambridge and onwards to whatever is in store for my future!

In our second edition of 'Time Travel Tuesday', we are thrilled to introduce David Edwardes. Mr Edwardes was a pupil at The Ryleys in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

We welcomed Mr Edwardes into the school last week and were fascinated to hear stories of his time at the school and his varied career since.

Thank you for sharing your ‘what happened next’ story.

When did you attend The Ryleys School?
I believe 1958 to 1963

What is your favourite memory of your time at The Ryleys School?
The best memory I have is of listening to NEW band ‘The Beatles’.

Where did you go after The Ryleys School?
St Edward’s School, Oxford

A short career summary
• Rolls Royce, Crewe (commercial apprenticeship)
• Rolls Royce distributors, Spain
• Interior Design shops
• Cheshire County Councillor
• Pub trade
• Spain for 25 years
• Cheshire East Councillor and Macclesfield Town Councillor
• Mayor of Macclesfield

What advice would you have for pupils / parents considering The Ryleys School?
I would say that if you can afford it private education is good in that it instils achievement.

Any final words?
Thank you for inviting me into the school this week. Thank you so much for the wonderful afternoon. It was fascinating to see how the school has been transformed over the 60 years.