Today, the organisation operates twelve sites across the Southwest, Midlands, and Southeast of England, providing more than 750 spaces for children with additional needs. At the heart of Spaghetti Bridge is Enterprise Learning – a sector-defining pedagogical model that integrates academic study, skills acquisition, and creativity into project-based learning. By combining “head, hand, and heart,” the approach inspires engagement, reduces absenteeism, and prepares young people for the demands of a rapidly changing 21st century world.
Dan began his career in California as an after-school tutor for Fusion Academy, an innovative school for students unable to thrive in mainstream education. Fusion’s one-to-one model, delivered in professional office-like settings rather than traditional classrooms, proved to be highly effective and was rapidly expanded across the United States. Recognised as a leading educational model, Fusion laid the groundwork for Dan’s belief that alternative, progressive approaches can unlock potential in learners who feel excluded by conventional systems.
In 2003, Dan moved to the UK, taking up a position as an English teacher at Seldon High School in Croydon, later joining Riddlesdown College while completing a Master’s in Literature at Birkbeck, University of London. During these years, he gained valuable experience in working with students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, deepening his understanding of educational inequalities. Importantly, from these settings, Dan began to learn how the traditional school approach could be viewed as a leading cause of disenfranchisement among students.
In 2008, he relocated to the Southwest to become Deputy Head of English at Tavistock College, where he also began doctoral research at Dartington College of Arts. His PhD research explored philosophical understandings of time, with a particular focus on the work of French philosopher Henri Bergson. Bergson’s view that humans can reinvent themselves by continually recreating their memories became a key influence on Dan’s later development of Enterprise Learning. His research was published internationally, and in 2010 he was invited to UC Berkeley as a visiting scholar.
While at Berkeley, Dan returned to Fusion Academy as Head of School in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he successfully turned around a struggling school, improving both educational quality and financial performance. In 2013, he and his family returned to the UK, where he became Principal of Ruskin Mill College, part of the Ruskin Mill Trust. Tasked with addressing an inadequate Ofsted rating and significant financial deficit, Dan transformed the college within a year, achieving a “Good” rating and restoring profitability. Promoted to Director of Operations for the Trust, he extended these improvements across multiple schools and residential services, while also drawing inspiration from the writings of John Ruskin, a leading influence for the Trust’s therapeutic approach. Ruskin’s critique of industrial mechanisation and advocacy for creativity and craftsmanship provided a second philosophical foundation for Enterprise Learning.
After three years at Ruskin Mill Trust, Dan joined the Aurora Group as Director of Operations, where he successfully led the turnaround of some of the organisation’s highest-revenue generating schools, including St Christopher’s in Bristol and Meldreth and Orchard Manor in Cambridgeshire. It was here that he met Stephen Bradshaw, a pioneering figure in the SEN sector and founder of both Aurora and Priory, who became an important influence in Dan’s path toward establishing Spaghetti Bridge. Following Bradshaw’s departure, Dan also moved on, briefly serving as Executive Director of Education for Livability, a national SEN charity overseeing schools in the South and Southeast.
In February 2020, Dan founded Spaghetti Bridge, opening Silver Bridge School as its first site while serving as CEO and Head. His vision was twofold: to address the urgent need for more SEN school places, and to pioneer a pedagogical approach capable of reshaping education itself. In just five years, Spaghetti Bridge has grown into a top-ten SEN provider in England, but Dan considers his greatest achievement to be the creation of an organisational culture that is progressive, innovative, and centred on children’s passions and differing ways of delivering education.
Enterprise Learning is built on project-based inquiry, where teachers guide students through a “driving question” that integrates subject disciplines into a unified, purposeful project. The process combines knowledge with skills development and a commitment to producing “Beautiful Work,” instilling creativity, curiosity, and problem-solving – qualities Dan believes are essential for 21st-century success. Moreover, this method also employs a relational support strategy which provides a strong platform for teachers to form trusting relationships with their students. Consequently, attendance at Spaghetti Bridge schools is consistently above the SEN national average, demonstrating the model’s power to re-engage children in learning.
Looking ahead, Dan’s mission is to expand Spaghetti Bridge further and demonstrate to the wider education sector that schools can operate differently—reducing absenteeism, fostering stronger relationships between teachers and students, and better equipping children for a world where the nature of work and society is rapidly evolving.
