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During the course of this academic year we have been experiencing problems with our cashless catering and printing facilities. In addition, our student card system is becoming unreliable. Because of this we have decided to take the exciting step of moving to a new system using biometric information.
This system will be fully operational for cashless catering from Monday 29 April and for printing from September.
The main reasons that we believe this is a far better solution for our school are:
- Efficiency – students can pay for their food or collect their printing simply by touching their finger on a 'reader' they will no longer need to remember their card;
- Security – the money held in the student's cashless catering account can only be accessed by the individual whereas although a card can be deactivated if lost, in the interim there is the potential for the card to be used by another person. With the introduction of biometrics students will be using their own finger as their identifier.
- Money-saving – currently we charge £1 to replace a lost or damaged card, this will no longer be applicable as there will be no card to lose.
This article gives you further information on the intended use of the biometric information.
If you are the parent of a Dane Court student, we ask that you complete and return the consent form attached to the letter sent home with your child and return it to the school office by Friday 19 April.
A copy of the letter can be downloaded here.
Biometric information and how it will be used
Biometric information is information about a person's physical or behavioural characteristics that can be used to identify them. The school would like to take and use this information for the purpose of providing students with cashless catering and printing solutions.
The information will be used as part of an automated biometric recognition system. This system will take measurements of a student's fingerprint and convert these measurements into a template to be stored on the system. An image of the student's fingerprint is not stored. The template (i.e. measurements taken from the student's fingerprint) is what will be used to permit the student to access services.
The law places specific requirements on schools when using personal information, such as biometric information, about students for the purposes of an automated biometric recognition system. For example;
- the school cannot use the information for any purpose other than those for which it was originally obtained and made known to the parent(s) (i.e. as stated above);
- the school must ensure that the information is stored securely on school premises;
- the school must tell you what it intends to do with the information;
- unless the law allows it, the school cannot disclose personal information to another person/body
Providing your consent/objecting
Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (sections 26 to 28), we are required to notify each parent of a child and obtain the written consent of at least one parent before being able to use a child's biometric information for an automated system. However, consent given by one parent will be overridden if the other parent objects in writing to the use of their child's biometric information. Similarly, if a student objects to this, the school cannot collect or use his/her biometric information for inclusion on the automated recognition system.
Parents can also object to the proposed processing of their child's biometric information at a later stage or withdraw any consent previously given. This means that, if a parent gives consent but later changes their mind, they can withdraw this consent. Please note that any consent, withdrawal of consent or objection from a parent must be in writing.
Even if you have consented as a parent, your child can object or refuse at any time to their biometric information being taken/used. His/her objection does not need to be in writing. We would appreciate it if parents could discuss this with their child and explain to them that they can object to this if they wish.
The school is also happy to answer any questions from parents or students. Please contact Mrs S Snaydon (Key Stage 3 & 4) or Ms A Hale (Key Stage 5) who will be happy to help.
If a parent does not wish their child's biometric information to be processed by the school, or the child objects to such processing, the law says that we must provide reasonable alternative arrangements for children who are not going to use the automated system to access cashless catering services. If this is the case the student will be issued with a card to use for both cashless catering and printing solutions.
Please note that when a student leaves the school, or if for some other reason he/she ceases to use the biometric system, his/her biometric data will be securely deleted.
Further information and guidance
This can be found via the following links:
