In 1998, we set up the original pyramids for ‘zero-tolerance’ behaviour - the concept is called Positive Discipline and Behaviour,” he says. “The two ‘pyramid’ structures work up in a hierarchical sense, one for reward and one for punishment. If after the winner has been sent a notification of winning they don’t confirm acceptance within seven days, Wolves reserve the right to redraw another prize winner. Most of the big supermarkets (bar Aldi) offer a loyalty scheme, and if you have not signed up or used one for a while, you may find that a lot has changed over the last year or so. For example, Asda announced in August that shoppers nationwide could access its new loyalty programme, while Morrisons announced a new scheme last year, and other supermarkets have been tweaking their offerings. That system is essentially based on two triangles: one with rewards and one with sanctions. On each, the level of severity or size of reward increases as a student progresses up to the peak.

For many teachers, it probably sounds like the basic rewards and sanctions policies that have been in place for decades in most classrooms: is he sure that no-one was doing this before he did it? And it’s likely that some young workers will continue to willingly put themselves into these environments because they want the validation Keenan craved – the ability to say, I got out alive. Of course, the career springboard and promise of increasingly voluminous compensation in an upwardly mobile environment doesn’t hurt, either. If you survive the right of passage, the pot of gold on the other side is, indeed, substantial. It’s a boot-camp mentality,” says Cohan – simply part of the process of succeeding at a high level.The primary school hit the headlines in 2012 after receiving an “inadequate” Ofsted report. News reports revealed that 40 pupils had been fixed or permanently excluded that year and The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that the school was receiving the “highest level of behaviour support” from Leeds City Council. Reasonable adjustment, he says, was originally about ensuring a child with a disability has an adjustment made so they enjoy full and equal access to everything everyone is doing. But he feels the requests now often make things worse, not better, for children. Although described as unapologetically strict by Sir John, the behaviour policy does not require pupils to walk in silence along the corridors. However, just because these entry-level workers have some sense of what they’re going to be up against, it doesn’t always mean they’re adequately prepared, or that their expectations match their eventual reality. At Hillcrest Academy, one of the TGAT’s primary schools, the walls are bursting with bright, proud displays of not just the children’s work, but pictures of the children themselves. The school motto: ‘With courage we dare to achieve beyond expectation’ is big and bold in the reception hall, and hanging from the ceiling in the canteen are two bikes.

The model has become so widely spread - schools across the country have taken the diagrams and models, but not the training that goes with it,” he says. “And actually, the training is really important because it’s the language, the attitudes and the approaches behind positive discipline that make it work. The themes of complete consistency and clarity are immediately evident when you visit a TGAT school. All pupils know that if they do X, Y will happen. The circumstances of the incident do not matter, neither does the pupils’ past behaviour record, or home life. Keenan, who got a job as an associate in 2016, did have a sense that he’d be heading into a difficult situation. “You know what you're getting into, and like most jobs, if you want to reap rewards you’re probably going to have to jump through hoops and do some stuff that’s painful along the way.”We’re in the top 3 per cent of the country for deprivation, we’ve got 43 languages spoken in the school, 50 per cent of pupils are EAL or new to English, 20 per cent have SEND or learning difficulties and over 50 per cent are on free school meals,” he says. ‘‘These families are coming from extreme poverty and difficult home lives. The classrooms and the school needs to be a wonderful environment.” Sir John says changes are made if absolutely necessary, but he feels “reasonable adjustment” is potentially hugely damaging. In isolation that day was a girl with purple hair. The colour of her hair was the sole reason for her being there. While talking to her peers in an art classroom, I asked them what they thought about this - to be clear, she hadn’t disrupted any classes, she hadn’t hurt anyone. Keenan says he pulled many anxious late nights feeling “crushed”, and some of his experiences do chime with the current points cited in the Goldman Sachs survey. (“There were a lot of sweaty shirts, crying and not knowing what I was doing.”). However, he caveats that the conditions outlined by the 13 analysts who put together the notes aren’t necessarily representative of every experience – it’s a small sample size. On the other side of the city is one of the Trust’s secondary schools: The Ruth Gorse Academy. Like Hillcrest, Ruth Gorse prides itself on being multicultural. A huge map of the world indicating where pupils were born, and have travelled from, has a prominent place in the entrance hall, and pictures of the entire school community are everywhere.

The highest certificate a pupil can achieve is ‘The (enter school here) exceptional achievement certificate’ - it takes 2,000 credits to earn this. He recalls an incident that involved a group of students at one of the trust’s schools, a bullying incident and a ‘major rewards’ trip. Retail therapy becomes all the more fun with Virgin Red, with points to be made every time you buy a new piece of clothing, accessories or a pair of shoes from your favourite outlets.The details of the training were not divulged when more information was requested, but what Sir John did say was that an integral lesson was learning how to hold the line. The major rewards trip Holding the line isn’t a popular thing, and parents don’t always support that level of rigour,” he admits. “The parents and those in the community who don’t support you are like rain water: they will find their way in to the weakest part of the structure of the organisation, and you can’t have those weaknesses.”

What we do have is a range of parents choosing not to send their children to us in the first place,” he says. Asda’s new loyalty scheme – the newest on the list – was rolled out to all UK stores and online this summer after undergoing a trial in several regions. It seems the pupils spoken to at The Ruth Gorse Academy do understand, appreciate and agree with the tough love approach. The rewards are just as important as the sanctions, says director of primary education and former principal Mark Randall. You sign into your account when you shop online or scan your card in-store. Each time you shop you collect “sparks”.

The prevailing narrative: that’s just the price you pay for a longer-term reward of power and prestige in big-name, big pay-cheque institutions. But for young people just jumping into the workforce, is the toil worth the epic reward, even if it may come with some worrying side effects? Some say maybe so. Trips are not the same without BIG Points. Earn BIG Points on your next AirAsia flight, hotel stay, tours, car rental and travel SIM with our partners. Sir John is chief executive of The Gorse Academy Trust (TGAT) in Leeds. It consists of 10 schools: four secondary, four primary, a sixth-form college and a 5 years - 16 years alternate provision centre.