ParentPay provides a school online payment system                                                                            To top up parent pay please go to www.parentpay.com

Cashless catering system runs through the existing ParentPay system and allows online payments to be made to individual student’s accounts.  Parents are familiar with this process when paying for items such as school trips. The introduction of a recognition system means that students are recognised at the tills in the Dining Hall by means of a scan of their finger. The advantage of this system is that there is no need for students to carry cash (or account cards) around school to get lost (or broken). 

Students will be required to register by providing an image of their fingerprint; please note that fingerprint images are not stored within the system and cannot be used by any other source for any other identification purposes. The fingerprint image is digitalised to create a unique identification code for your child only to access catering services. Your child is the only person who will be able access the money you pay into his/her account. Other schools who have adopted this system also report a reduction in queuing time which means your child will have more time to enjoy his/her lunch.

To find out more about these providers and how their systems work you can visit their websites: www.parentpay.com and www.cunninghams.co.uk

Important Information - The information from your child that we wish to use is referred to as ‘biometric information’ (see next paragraph). 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 such an automated system.

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, for example, information from their fingerprint.  The school would like to take and use information from your child’s fingerprint and use this information for the purpose of enabling your child to access catering services.    

The information will be used as part of an automated biometric recognition system. This system will take measurements of your child’s fingerprint and convert these measurements into a template to be stored on the system. An image of your child’s fingerprint is not stored. The template (i.e. measurements taking from your child’s fingerprint is what will be used to permit your child to access catering services. You should note that 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. catering services);
• The school must ensure that the information is stored securely;
• The school must tell you what it intends to do with the information;