Franklin Sixth Form College Grimsby serves the young people of North East Lincolnshire, with a current student population of over 1,650. It is the only sixth form college in the area and is recognised as the best provider in the region for 16–19 progress in education.
Franklin's unique selling point is its wide variety of courses, allowing students to select any programme of study that suits their interests, alongside a wealth of enrichment opportunities offering a wide range of experiences to students.
Project Background
As the esports industry continues to be one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK and internationally, Franklin Sixth Form College was keen to add this course to its curriculum offering. Having first been made aware of the BTEC Esports course by the BTEC organisation directly, Franklin surveyed staff and students to determine if there was interest. After confirming significant demand, the college began planning the course and the infrastructure required to deliver it first time, minimising expense and accelerating course delivery.
Project Approach
Franklin Sixth Form College's existing media department already featured industry-standard equipment, including Mac suites and recording rooms, so the new esports suite needed to meet the same high standard. While building a full esports facility was outside scope, the college wanted a dedicated esports suite that delivered across five key objectives.
Suitable Learning Environment
To provide a dedicated esports suite ensuring students have access to high-quality gaming equipment and an appropriate environment for practice and play.
Enhanced Learning Experience
The suite supports live tournaments, competitions and collaboration, allowing students to experience competitive gaming while developing teamwork and real-world skills.
Hands-on Learning
The suite provides hands-on learning opportunities, enabling students to experiment with gaming hardware, peripherals and software.
Esports Enrichment
The suite allows participation in British Esports Association championships and provides open play enrichment opportunities after college.
Future Expansion
Provision for future expansion into games development and related courses was built in due to the high-performance gaming PCs.
Project Results
The completed esports suite has proved a great success in delivering the BTEC esports course. The dedicated space and styling, distinct from traditional IT rooms, has increased student engagement not only within esports but across other subjects taught in the suite.
It also provides an excellent marketing opportunity, as prospective students and students from surrounding secondary areas can experience a hands-on environment that they will remember, following a visit. The room always elicits a wow from visitors especially in a catchment area such as the college's, with large numbers of low income students from a region that performs very poorly on the social mobility index.
The Scan Partnership
Franklin Sixth Form College chose Scan as it is very experienced in the areas of gaming and enthusiast hardware compared to traditional organisational-focused system providers. Additionally, with the exception of the fixtures and fittings it was possible to source all the equipment needed for the entire room including PC systems, gaming monitors, peripherals and gaming chairs, from a single provider.
Featuring comprehensive warranties and being competitively priced also helped as due to the scope of the project, additional quotes were required for comparison - however Scan was still the partner of choice.
Project Wins
Increased student engagement with a dedicated esports space
Increases in BTEC esports course enrolments
Flagship esports premises supporting marketing and events
Ben Leggett
IT and Computer Science Department, Franklin Sixth Form College
"Exceptionally easy to deal with, from the first quote through to delivery of the final room and beyond, our account manager was always available to help as the design scope changed throughout the planning and funding process."
Speak to an expert
You’ve seen how Scan helped a leading education provider develop a flagship esports suite. Contact our team to discuss your project requirements.
Related content
View more case studies
