St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy win inter-school esports tournament

St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy win inter-school esports tournament

Dominic Sacco
2 min read | 4 Apr 2017

The winning team from the Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament celebrated their victory today with a convincing performance.

The St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy school from Dewsbury beat New College Swindon 3-0 in the final to lift the inaugural school esports trophy.

Shire Oak Academy and Gildredge House school also took part in the tournament, which saw more than 400 students participate from schools across the UK.

St John Fisher’s Rocket League champions – brothers Bailey Barber-Scargill and Harrison Barber-Scargill, and Joshua Love, all aged 16 – form part of the Rocket League team Veracity (pictured with the school’s head of computer science, business and vocational studies Mark Ward).

They won a PlayStation 4 and other goodies on the day, which will be used in the school’s esports club going forwards.

The event was supported by Ukie, PlayStation, 505 Games and Sega, with Sega also hosting a Q&A session after the final with students on getting a job in the games industry. It was held at the Gfinity Arena in London.

Josh Williams, founder of the National University Esports League, also gave a talk on the day.

Shahneila Saeed, director of the Digital Schoolhouse programme and head of education for Ukie, said: “This is a really exciting event for us. Digital Schoolhouse is a national programme delivered by Ukie, where we aim to inspire and engage students and teachers with computing curriculum.

“Esports was not around six or seven years ago , and it is now, it’s a viable career option. This tournament has been about immersing students in the world of esports to give them a feel for the different types of jobs that are out there.”

Bailey Barber-Scargill, one of the winning players, added: “I think we should encourage this sort of thing. I would say that most parents don’t really like it when their kids play video games, but if we show them it can be a career, then maybe it will encourage them a little bit more.”

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