Disadvantaged pupils in England are now 19 months behind their better-off classmates by the time they sit their GCSEs, according to the recently published Education Policy Institute’s 2026 annual report.
It is a gap that Bath-based educator Joey James has spent 15 years watching widen from the inside, and this month she has launched something designed to help close it.
Friday Brain Building Club is a new weekly subscription service that delivers a single, carefully designed activity sheet to families’ inboxes every Friday at 7am, giving children aged seven to 11 a screen-free way to build core thinking skills at home.
Joey is a mum of three, a Cambridge alumna with an MA in Education and has spent more than 15 years working across the UK education sector, including as part of the senior leadership team in a top-performing state school.
“As both a parent and an educator, I could see a gap between boring worksheets that feel like homework and screen time that often lacks real educational value,” Joey says. “I wanted to create something children would genuinely enjoy and actively choose to do while quietly building the knowledge and thinking skills that underpin success, in school and beyond.
“Friday Brain Building Club’s appealing illustrations and purposeful design aim to spark curiosity – a weekly challenge that families look forward to – while developing problem-solving, literacy, numeracy and logical thinking without children even realising they’re learning and remembering.
“It’s also important to me that it stays low-cost because I believe every child deserves that chance, whatever their family can afford.”
Built to narrow the gap, not widen it
For every subscription, Friday Brain Building Club donates printed activity sheets and pencils to schools supporting disadvantaged pupils, with a portion of all profits donated to the National Literacy Trust, a registered UK charity that works to address educational inequality in the UK.
“I truly believe that every child deserves access to high-quality learning opportunities, regardless of their background,” Joey says.
“I want Friday Brain Building Club to be accessible, affordable and enjoyable for as many children as possible, especially in the era of the post-COVID attainment gap. If we can support children to build stronger literacy, numeracy and thinking skills, we can play a small part in narrowing national educational inequalities and giving every child the chance to succeed.”
How it works
Parents print the sheet out and leave it somewhere for their child to discover – the kitchen island, the dining table or on the sofa – with no deadline and no pressure to finish it in one sitting. Each sheet combines numeracy, literacy and problem-solving challenges, including a crossword, a ‘word of the week’, logic puzzles and a curious fact designed to spark dinner-table conversation.
One of the club’s core design principles, Joey explains, is that children choose to do the sheets themselves rather than being told to.
Evidence-informed content
The content is carefully curated around the way children actually learn, covering core knowledge and skills for Key Stage 2. Each sheet is sequenced so that every week builds on prior content, helping children acquire knowledge, develop resilience and independent thinking and gain a genuine enjoyment of learning.
Every sheet is deliberately designed to feel nothing like homework and is complemented by handy ‘how to’ videos, hints and evidence-based tips for parents.
These are designed to help guide parents on how to support their children with their learning across all types of educational tasks, while also providing expert insights on how to develop their children’s thinking without giving away the answer.
Pricing
Friday Brain Building Club has launched with two options: a Simple Sheet for seven to nine year olds and a Stretch Sheet for nine to 11 year olds, priced at £4.99 a month with a 30-day free trial and no minimum commitment.
A discounted Sibling Subscription is also available at £7.99 a month, giving parents access to both the Simple and Stretch sheets.
Friday Brain Building Club is available now at fridaybb.com, with a 30-day free trial for new subscribers.
*Education Policy Institute 2026 Annual Report.
