Across the UK, many young people who struggle in mainstream schools lack the support, structure, and opportunities they need to succeed. 

• Two CrossFit coaches, Jordan Gatehouse and Hannah Mittoo, have identified both the gaps in the education system and the potential for fitness to change lives. 

Drawing from their own experiences, they have begun developing programs that integrate physical training, mentorship, and alternative education paths.

• Their shared vision has now evolved into the Directional Academy Provision (DAP), a new nonprofit school model that combines academics with CrossFit, character development, and community support. 

With doors opening this October, DAP aims to create a space where resilience, confidence, and lifelong health are developed alongside traditional learning.

Jordan and Hannah

Jordan Gatehouse experienced some tough years as a teenager in the UK. With his mother busy caring for his two younger brothers, he had to assume a fatherly role from a young age. 

Through his own experiences with the school system and guiding his brothers, he witnessed firsthand how kids facing tough challenges often lack support. 

Gatehouse formulated a vision for something different, aiming to solve the problems he identified and leverage his expertise.

• “My goal was to open a gym that would be free for [kids] under 18. I knew something had to change in the school system and thought this could help,” he told Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “I wish I had somebody like me when I was my brother’s age.”

However, Gatehouse had to postpone his dream of opening his own gym during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Instead, he began working for Directional Community Interest Company, a group with a vision to “Inspire the Next Generation” by engaging them through sports, positive activities, and providing relatable role models.

• “If you go into a secondary school in the UK and they have a gym, you are very lucky,” Gatehouse said. “It is more like football, rugby, tennis, badminton, and things that schools already have and that are low-cost. I knew we needed those, but we needed something else.”

Simultaneously, Hannah Mittoo was developing her own understanding of the power of fitness. 

Although she had always wanted to foster children, walking into her local CrossFit box showed her a different way to make an impact on troubled youth.

• Mittoo explained: “When I started CrossFit, I realized how the community completely changed me for the better, and I thought this could impact young people who are outside of the traditional education system.”

With the help of several gym members, Mittoo organized a CrossFit-based class for kids in challenging situations called The Academy Programme. They welcomed children living with other family members, those living independently, and those in foster care.

The program delivered excellent results, enabling Mittoo to leverage these successes into partnerships with over 60 schools. 

• They integrated gyms into the schools through CrossFit’s nonprofit affiliate program and trained the teachers to strengthen the program’s sustainability.

Gatehouse and Mittoo met through their shared work and realized they could build a mutually beneficial partnership, with Mittoo managing the CrossFit aspect and Gatehouse creating a broader, comprehensive program. 

The Next Step

For Mittoo, the vision was clear: “We knew the first step was to create an alternative provision school, because the mainstream system here puts everybody into the same box. They haven’t built a structure that allows for different ways of thinking and learning.”

• Alternative provision schools (referred to as “alternative schools” in the United States) were already starting to appear in England, and Mittoo and Gatehouse aimed to develop their own version. 

The opportunity arose when Gatehouse discovered a shared gym space for physical education, and right next door, a large, vacant building poised to enter the rental market. 

It was exactly what they needed.

They moved quickly, securing the space and planning to transform it into classrooms, a media room, and a recreation space, all connected to the gym. 

They’ve decided to call it the Directional Academy Provision.

• Mittoo described the approach: “We’re going to register as a nonprofit affiliate, so our classes will be CrossFit. We’ve got a sports psychiatrist who’s written our morning breakfast sessions, which will center around tenacity, confidence, respect, and patience – all those things we want our young people to develop.”

A typical day will blend traditional academics and fitness: students will start with breakfast and character-building sessions, proceed to math and English lessons, break for lunch, and end with CrossFit training in the gym.

• The students will follow a certification pathway. For example, they will work toward the UK’s equivalent of a high school diploma. 

While DAP won’t issue the diploma itself, students will be able to earn other certifications and combine them with additional credits to pursue university admission – if that’s their chosen path.

Coming Full Circle

Mittoo and Gatehouse plan to open in October, with a long-term goal of adding more locations soon.

Although both are aware of the project’s potential impact, Gatehouse emphasizes why he started in the first place.

• “My brother is about 10 years younger than me and getting close to that age where he is going to want to start giving back to young people like I did,” he said. “So in the back of my mind, I have always wanted to have a place for him to go so he can pass on all his life experience to younger kids.” 

Featured image: Jack Watkins, The Directional Academy Provision