Fifa 19: School texts warning against pupils skipping lessons to play
Hit video game Fifa 19 was released yesterday – but one school was taking no chances on pupils calling in ‘sick’ to sneak in some early console time and netting themselves an own goal in the process.
Willenhall E-Act Academy sent a text message to all parents at the school, warning them of the consequences if their child was not in lessons on Friday.
Staff insisted ‘medical evidence from a doctor’ would be required if pupils were off.
As a last resort, home checks would even be carried out.
It comes as the highly anticipated Fifa 19 was released on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One yesterday.
The full text from Willenhall E-Act Academy read: “Good morning, we are fully aware that Fifa 19 has been released today, however we expect your child to be in school as they can play the game later or over the weekend.
"If your child is not in school then you will have to call school and we will require medical evidence from a doctor. If we don’t hear from you then a home visit will be completed. Thanks again for your support. Willenhall E-Act Academy.”
It was shared with the Express & Star by a parent of a child from the school.
The Fifa video game series has soared in popularity after being released in 1993. Produced by EA Sports, it allows gamers to set up their own football team in a game mode called Ultimate Team and compete online against other players, or use real league teams and again play online or against the computer in a ‘career’ mode to try and reach the top of the game.
Wolves, Albion, Villa, Birmingham City and Walsall all feature on the game.
Stadiums Molineux and The Hawthorns are also both recreated for Fifa 19, and players will be able to spot footballing stars such as Rúben Neves and Raúl Jiménez painstakingly recreated in animation.
The game costs around £45-to-55.
A spokesman for the academy said: “At Willenhall E-ACT Academy, we take student attendance very seriously.
“In our most recent Ofsted monitoring inspection carried out in July 2018, inspectors noted that academy and trust leaders were ‘taking effective action’ with improvements noted in the quality of teaching, student behaviour and attendance.
“We remain confident that Willenhall will soon join the growing list of E-ACT academies rated at least Good by Ofsted.”
