Over steaming cups of hot chocolate and bacon butties, children pit their wits against drinkers from a pub.

The playing cards are shuffled and dealt and there is good-natured banter between the old sages and the young pretenders.

But this is a card school of a very different type. This is the new approach to maths and numeracy.

The children are pupils from Falmer School in Brighton and the adults are members of the cribbage team from the Duke of Beaufort in Queen's Park.

They are brought together by an initiative organised by the East Brighton Education Action Zone (EAZ).

The Breakfast Club meets at the school every Tuesday before lessons begin and the cribbage challenge is designed to make learning fun. Since the scheme started, there has been a marked improvement in pupils' skills.

Action zones were introduced by the Government three years ago to raise standards in deprived areas by helping clusters of schools.

There are ten schools in the Brighton zone, including seven primary schools, two secondaries and one special school.

The scheme has already shown positive results and has won a two-year funding extension.

Alison Walker-Fraser, the new director of the Brighton EAZ, said the breakfast club was one of many examples of the new partnerships under way.

She said: "Our aim is to raise standards but that can't be done in isolation. Schools are central to the community and everything we do has to be in partnership with the community."

Ms Walker-Fraser's team, which operates from an office in Whitehawk, put out a plea for help from all areas of the community and the cribbage team was one of the groups that responded.

Adrian Street, landlord of the Duke of Beaufort, said: "When we first started, the kids were counting with their fingers. Now they do it in their head. Their mental arithmetic has improved dramatically."

The team, champions of the Brighton Friendly Cribbage League, spends half an hour at the school each Tuesday with an ever-growing number of Year 7 pupils. Volunteers from Transage, a project run by Age Concern, also help.

Mr Street urged others to get involved. He said: "It's only half an hour out of our day. We're not teachers but we're giving something back and we all enjoy it."

On a bigger scale, 80 American Express workers are helping primary school children with reading and numeracy skills, Scottish Power has offered training in life skills for teenagers and BAA Gatwick have provided play equipment.

Ms Walker-Fraser said: "Not many companies can offer cash but practical help is just as valuable."

Part of the challenge for the EAZ team is to turn the learning tide. The problem is deep-rooted. Generations of families in the area have repeated the pattern. Expectations are low.

Ms Walker-Fraser said: "We want to develop a learning culture and show learning can be fun and leaving school at 16 is not compulsory. Even if a parent has had a poor educational experience, we want to show them we are investing in the future of their youngsters."

Ms Walker-Fraser, who came to Whitehawk after working with the EAZ in Darlington, County Durham, is drawing on experience from counterparts in Canada and Australia.

She said: "Our problems are not unique, so there is a lot we can learn from successful schemes elsewhere in the world."

Among other successful schemes run by the EAZ are taster sessions where children are given substantial hands-on experience of working in a particular industry.

In an area where most of the youngsters are classed as socially deprived, motivation is a problem.

Ms Walker-Fraser said: "They lack esteem and confidence to believe they can do it."

Some children are assigned mentors, role models intended to inspire youngsters. Many of them are university students who are closer to the children in age and experience.

Individual schools have also introduced schemes to improve attendance.

St Marks Primary is "racing to the moon" - each class is represented by a model of a rocket which moves up weekly on a central display if attendance improves. Coldean has a similar scheme known as "punctual pumpkins". Each half-term the winning classes are rewarded with prizes donated by Amex.

The EAZ receives up to £1 million a year - £500,000 from the Department of Education as a baseline and up to £250,000 more in return for funds raised from private partners.

It did not receive any money from businesses during its first three months of operation. But it then bucked the national trend by attracting £250,000 from the private sector before the end of the first year. It matched those figures in the following two years and is hoping to exceed them over the next two years.

Ms Walker-Fraser urged more business to get involved with the EAZ.

She said: "By investing in these young people, they can support the workforce of tomorrow."

The EAZ also works hand-in-hand with New Deal for Communities which provides up to £42.7 million for Whitehawk, Moulsecoomb and the Bates and Saunders Park Estates, over ten years.

Schools in East Brighton EAZ include: Bevendean Primary, Coldean Infants and Junior, Falmer, Moulsecoomb Primary, Queensdown, St John the Baptist RC, St Marks CE, Whitehawk Primary and the East Brighton College of Media Arts, formerly Marina High.