This week saw four schools from across the UK gather at the Gfinity Esports Arena in London (Gfinity hosted and ran the event) to battle it out to win Digital Schoolhouse's esports tournament for schools, and it was Crypt School who emerged victorious in a day that was also about exploring opportunities for the youths.
At the event students found out how esports can support skills like computing, and how these can be important to a wide variety of jobs within the games industry. Q&A sessions were held as part of this, alongside one-to-one careers advice with a number of esports professionals, and director of Gfinity David Yarnton was there to help support the event.
The event, powered by PlayStation, aimed at "creating a bridge between the education and technology sector," the press release said, and Digital Schoolhouse included extra stages after pilot last year, which resulted in extra demand. Overwatch was the game played, and the prize included medals for each team member, a PS4, a framed and signed poster, and a limited edition statue of Soldier 76.
Susan Green, teacher, and STEM development manager at the Crypt School said: "The opportunity presented by Digital Schoolhouse has empowered my students to realise their skills and develop new ones. Overall it is fun and inspiring, and more importantly, it helps them see pathways for their own future."
Shahneila Saeed, programme director for Digital Schoolhouse, added: "After such a successful event last year, there were high expectations to meet again with this year's Digital Schoolhouse Esports Tournament. The feedback from everyone has been great, particularly about the additional stage we have added this year. By including a regional qualifiers round, we were able to include more schools with the competition this year and reach even more students to engage them with computing.
For more information on how to register your interest in becoming a Digital Schoolhouse, visit their official website. Is this a good way to get kids engaged with esports?
