City trader spots a gap in the education market to tackle ‘Cost-of-Learning’

Former city trader Natasha Beavis has launched ‘Flash Learning’ an affordable learning resource for school children revising for their GCSE and A Level exams.

Natasha, 27, from Harrow, Greater London, believed there was a gap in the market for affordable solutions to extra study. The Flash Learning App focuses on young people who need learning support but don’t have a tutor or access to additional classes at school.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues to escalate and the average cost of tutors is coming in around £60 per hour, Natasha developed the family app to provide syllabus courses (starting £10 to £50) and past papers (starting at £5.99) to kids up and down the country.

This month, Flash Learning has incorporated a new function to the app – giving parents or guardians a portal that allows them to set tasks for their children and review progress. The functionality is also designed to support parents who home-school.

A thriving start-up founded two years ago, Flash Learning hopes to expand its offering to all GCSE and A Level subjects, such as English and History, with its current focus on Maths and Science.

The modules explore the most frequent topics and allow access to predicted and past papers from the major exam boards, including AQA, OCR and Edexcel. The app also offers free digital flash cards for Maths and Science.

Natasha Beavis said: “Official stats show around 40% of children in the UK will fail GCSE Maths, with around 86% looking to retake the subject. These results heavily reflect demographics, with less affluent areas bearing the brunt of the ‘cost of learning’.

“Education shouldn’t be about how much additional learning you can pay for to support a pass. We wanted to provide a tool that children and parents can access to better prepare for exams and do so within their means.

“With many children glued to their devices the app puts learning in a space they are comfortable with and likely to engage with. Its affordable and accessible, every child should have the opportunity to do better in their studies.”

She added: “The App is a way of gamifying learning, there is an AI chatbot to support with learning questions and allows them to be independent in their learning. Putting learning onto a device takes the distraction of the phone away and makes learning portable.”

Natasha studied economics at the University of Bath and worked as a trader in the city for three years following her studies.

In 2022, Natasha watched a video online which asked children to step forwards or backwards depending on their means and access to learning – the physical gap was deafening and inspired Flash Learning. With no background in teaching or education, Natasha has worked with several experts and schools to create and trial the app and gain ‘Better Education UK’ status.

To download the app head to App Store or Google Play.