Biometrics

At Cressex Community we use a biometric system to manage loans from the school library and payment for food from the school canteen.  When a student joins the school, a reading is taken of his or her finger or thumbprint. This is then scanned by a computer to confirm the student’s identity when he or she pays for food or borrows a resource from the library.

This has a number of benefits.

• There is no need to issue students with separate library or lunch cards which can easily be lost and would cost money to replace.
• Students do not have to remember passwords or access codes.
• Students entitled to free school meals cannot be identified by other students. 
• Students and staff find the system simple to use.

All of the information we hold on students to enable the system to work is kept securely and may not be passed on to third parties. The information is deleted when students leave the school.

Many other schools use the same system as ours or a similar one.

Schools are required to inform all parents/carers of students under 18 that they hold biometric information on students and to seek written permission from one parent/carer of each student for such information to be held.