When businesses talk about young people it is often about how to attract them as customers through social media, celebrity ambassadors or competitions to win the latest gadget. The Co-operative Group has a rather different approach to connecting with the next generation, however — it is teaching them.

This week thousands of pupils in Co-op-branded uniforms will return after the summer break and file through the doors of 28 academies in West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire and Merseyside. For those pupils, Covid-19 has thrown up a challenge like no other, with lockdowns, home-schooling, regular testing and masks.

According to Steve Murrells, chief executive of the Co-op, a group whose interests span grocery shops to funerals, as well as schools, the pandemic has highlighted widening