The Academy operates a biometric cashless catering system at Fairisle Road to enhance our catering provision.
The main benefits of a biometric cashless system are:
• Further enhance the Academy's drive to promote healthy eating.
• Improve further the efficiency of service, with faster delivery.
• Ensure complete confidentially for free school meal entitlement - daily credit will be automatically assigned.
• Give parents confidence that money given for food purchased at the Academy will be used for that purpose.
• Allow the Academy's caterers to monitor their provision enabling them to be more responsive to the requirements of customers
Some key questions about the new biometric cashless catering system:
What is a biometric cashless system?
At the heart of the biometric cashless system is a software program which recognises each individual customer, holds individual cash balances and records expenditure and cash received. It also records where and when money is spent and on what food.
How are students and staff recognised by the system?
All students and staff will be registered by biometric measurement and photograph. The biometric measurement takes a part image of some of the coordinates of the fingerprint. This information is then converted, encrypted and stored as a unique number. This data cannot be converted back into any image of a fingerprint, nor can it be used by any other source for identification purposes.
What data will be held on the system?
Certain data will be held on the system to enable accurate operation. This will include the student's name, tutor group, photo, account balance, meal entitlement and the biometric number. Other than the biometric number, this data is already held on the Academy's administrative systems. All the data will be handled under the guidelines of the Data Protection Act. The data will only be utilised for the purposes of the cashless catering system and will be destroyed when the data is no longer relevant (such as when a student leaves the Academy).
How is biometric system utilised to obtain food?
A finger will be placed on a biometric scanner at a till. This will activate an individual's account which will be displayed on screen for the catering operator, including name and current balance. The operator will then enter the selected food and drink into the system from an itemised keyboard, while the amount spent and the new balance will show on the display.
How is money entered into the system?
Initially, there will be two methods:
a. By cheque payable to Oasis Academy Lord's Hill. Any cheque value can be paid into your child's account: you can pay for a term, month or week at a time. Cheques must be in a sealed envelope, with the student's name and form group clearly marked and posted in the ‘cheque mail box' in the Academy dining room. If a cheque is to cover more than one student, the name and form group for each student must be identified, together with the breakdown of the total value to be applied to each account.
b. By putting cash, notes (£20, £10, £5) and coins (£2, £1, 50p, 20p, 10p), into an automatic cash ‘revaluation' terminals located in the dining room. After activation via a biometric scanner, the terminal will show the current account balance. Cash is then entered and, finally, a red button pressed to mark the end of the transaction.
c. By using a secure internet site, enabling payment by debit cards. Parent/Cares can access the online payment system by clicking here. You will need to have your sQuid Registration and Security Numbers.
How will the student check his/her cash balance in the system at any one time?
The account balance can be checked using one of the revaluation terminals in the dining room by activating the terminal via the biometric scanner. There is no need to deposit any money, just press the button to finish.
How can we be sure that a regular amount of money is used daily?
There is a daily spending limit of £5.00 for each student. No food above this limit can be bought. On request, an individual student limit of your choice can be set, to include a school dinner and break time snacks.
What happens if a student or member of staff does not hold a sufficient cash balance to pay for food?
There is no overdraft facility on the new system. Students and staff must have enough money in their accounts to purchase food or drink.
How is the entitlement to a free school meal handled?
The system works exactly the same for all students whether they pay themselves or have a free school meal. All students gain access to their accounts via the biometric scanners. The amount allocated for a free school meal will be entered into the system daily by the software and will only be accessible at lunchtime. Any under-spend or missed dinner will be identified by the system and will not be added to the next day's balance. Students entitled to a free school meal can add money to their account as other students.
How will the biometric cashless system encourage healthy eating?
After the new system has been operating for a while, we will explore the ways we can use the recorded information about food consumption and nutrient intake, in particular, for the purposes of healthy eating awareness and understanding. When the food is selected, the system can register ‘reward points' in recognition of students choosing a balanced, healthy and nutritious diet. This information can then be used for healthy eating awards. Eventually, it should be possible for each student to be access the record of their eating habits, so they can begin to make choices about nutrient intake in the context of nutrient understanding. This may become part of food technology lessons.
Parent/Cares can access the online payment system by clicking here You will need to have your sQuid Registration and Security Numbers.
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