Fingerprints for school dinner
Dinner money is set to become a thing of the past at a Shropshire school due to fingerprint technology which will help pupils pay for their meals.
The biometric system which would possibly be more at home in the latest James Bond movie or Mission Impossible blockbuster is being set up at the Lakelands School, Sports and Language College in Ellesmere.
Pupils will be able to scan in their fingerprints to access their dinner accounts and their meals will be debited straight out after their picture and details pop up on the tills.
School bursar Judy Bailey said it would reduce time spent handling cash, speed up service and encourage more pupils to take school meals and healthy options on offer.
The biometric cashless catering system will go live on June 6.
The IMPACT system has been developed by Cunninghams, of Birmingham, who are specialists in retail, hospitality, leisure, cashless and CCTV security systems.
Mrs Bailey said: "The pupils will be using the device which reads their fingerprint and brings up their account which will come up on the till with a picture."
She said it would get pupils used to handling accounts and benefit those who get free meals as they would be treated like everyone else.
Headteacher Ryan Jervis said: "We are the first school in Shropshire to install a biometric cashless catering system.
"The scheme will enable pupils to manage their own dinner money safely and securely through their own account accessed by an image of their fingerprint.
"The image is then discarded as soon as the account is activated."
