A new Digital Schoolhouse Splatoon 3 tournament has been announced for students aged 12 to 18 across the UK.
Digital Schoolhouse, the computing education arm of UK games industry trade body Ukie, has partnered with Nintendo for the new tournament. Previously, they have hosted Smash Bros tournaments for students, with Norton College the current back-to-back winners.
The grand finals for the 2024 event will take place at WASD at the Truman Brewery in London on Thursday April 25th 2024. This will see the top four teams from over 50 competing schools battle it out for the championship title.
The Digital Schoolhouse esports programme is now in its seventh iteration and has reached more than 30,000 students across the UK.
As well as the competitive side of the tournament, the initiative hopes to teach students skills like communication, problem solving and working as a team, as well as careers advice and more. 75% of students involved said they felt their communication skills improved and 79% said their team building skills improved.
Prizes are also available for casting, design and journalism, and, new to this year, production and content creation.
Earlier this year, Esports News UK judged the Digital Schoolhouse student journalism competition, with an article on Northern Ireland’s Only All-Female Esports Team winning.
WASD will also host a separate Ukie Student Game Jam on March 14th and 15th 2024.
Shahneila Saeed, Director at Digital Schoolhouse and Head of Education at Ukie said: “We know students can’t aspire to jobs they don’t know exist, and with careers education traditionally being dry and uninspiring, the Digital Schoolhouse Splatoon 3 tournament is a game changer.
“The immersive experience reimagines what good careers education can be, helping students discover how the things they enjoy and are good at can contribute towards their future professional life in a fun, hands-on environment. We’re excited to be launching the Digital Schoolhouse Splatoon 3 Tournament with Nintendo UK and hope to reach even more schools and pupils than ever before.”
Kalpesh Tailor, Head of Communications at Nintendo UK, added: “Through our continued partnership with Digital Schoolhouse for many years now we have been thrilled to see so many smiles on the faces of students who have engaged and competed in the Digital Schoolhouse Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Team Battle.
“This academic year we are excited to bring a fresh approach to the programme with a newly created Splatoon 3 Tournament. We are confident this tournament and its educational activities will continue to help inspire the next generation of young minds in the UK.”
Earlier this year, a separate university Splatoon 3 tournament ran, with a final at Insomnia 70. And a few days ago, Street Fighter 6 and Apex Legends cups were added to the separate British Esports Student Champs for 2023/24.
To take part in the Digital Schoolhouse Splatoon 3 tournament, you can register your interest here.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
