School Meals

At Queen's Park High School we use a cashless catering system featuring Facial Recognition which offers a fast and straightforward payment experience for school meals.
Facial Recognition offers a quick and secure way for students to purchase school meal items without needing cash and the risk of losing cards or forgetting passwords. With Facial Recognition, students simply select their meal, look at the camera and go, speeding up the lunchtime service with a contactless point-of-sale experience. Facial Recognition is faster than using a finger or thumbprint biometric.
This technology will be used as an additional authentication method at the checkout counters, providing faster service for students. Our goal is to help students reclaim time to enjoy their meal breaks and nutritious meals and make it easier to attend lunch enrichment activities.

How the technology works

With Facial Recognition technology, students simply choose their meal, look at the checkout camera, and proceed with a quick and secure point-of-sale experience.
Facial Recognition is a biometric recognition method that works in the same way as other recognition technology. Like a PIN, a unique identifier is attributed to each student and matched at the till for quick and secure access to their cashless account.
An image of the face is captured, and the software turns unique features of the face geometry, such as the distance between the eyes and the distance from the top of the forehead to the chin, to create a unique identifier for each student.
Whenstudents pay for their meal items at the point of sale, the camera matches their unique identifier to their cashless account to take payment.

How the transaction process works

1. Consent: Students must opt-in to use Facial Recognition before an image is taken. If they do not consent to using the software, the till operator cannot activate the Facial Recognition process.
2. Capture: The biometric system captures an image of the student’s face. This image is not retained, stored, or distributed to third parties, and Facial Recognition cameras are only located at the point of sale for school meal transactions or in the school office for registration.
3. Collection: The system reads distinctive features from the image and processes it through an algorithm. This process turns the image into a unique string of characters, which serves as the student’s unique identifier. This unique identifier is stored on a secure, encrypted database within the school and is used to verify student’s accounts at the checkout.
4. Identification: During checkout, the cashier initiates the system to verify their account and process the transaction. The cashier must activate this process; the system is not live for students. A picture of the student is captured and processed through the algorithm to confirm their unique identifier and access their account. The image is not kept on record; only their unique identifier is stored.

Security of Facial Recognition

Biometrics, in this case, provides a unique identifier for the person present at the checkout. The unique identifier is created by processing the biometric capture through a mathematical algorithm, generating a unique number. Only this number is stored; the captured image is not retained. This data is encrypted using AES 256 (similar to encryption used by your online banking) and cannot be reversed to produce an image of the biometric, ensuring the highest level of security and compliance.

FAQ

What are biometrics?
Biometrics authenticates people based on their unique characteristics and identifies possible matches to ensure accurate and secure identification. Facial Recognition is a type of biometrics that we use in various aspects of life, including:

• Security: unlocking phones, accessing secure buildings, and logging into accounts
• Identification: faster check-ins at airports and hospitals
• Convenience: logging into computers and making payments for school meals

What student data is stored and where?
Biometric recognition operates on a closed-loop system, which means student data is stored on our secure database.
Can any other agency or 3rd party use the facial images?
No, the information is never shared, and the face template representing the student's faces is meaningless to anyone else. The software turns your child’s image into a mathematical algorithm, and the stored information cannot be used to recreate the face image.
What happens when my child leaves the school?
All biometric data can be deleted; the school is the data controller and can delete the data from its databases. You can opt-out anytime, meaning the school will delete the biometric data in line with school policy.
What if I object to my child using Facial Recognition? Can my child still purchase school meals?
Parents and students reserve the right to object to using Facial Recognition. Any student not wishing to opt-in will be issued an alternative identification method, e.g., finger biometric or PIN.
How can my child pay for items?
Parents can continue to top-up student accounts online using ParentMail. Students can also top up their accounts using a cash loader located in school. When paying for items at the counter, a student can use either their Facial Recognition biometric, finger/thumb biometric or a PIN number.
Is this technology 'live'?
No; catering staff must activate the process at the point of sale for students that have consented to use Facial Recognition. The system is not live; the cameras only capture student's images for the transaction process when the PoS staff activates the software.

Is your child eligible for free school meals?

Did you know that if you are unemployed or on benefits then you may be able to claim free school meals for your child? If your circumstances have recently changed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and you are now unemployed or receiving benefits, then we would encourage you to check if your child is eligible for this additional support.

This would not only help you: it would help the school too.

Schools are given additional funding by the Government for every child who has successfully applied for free school meals.  The more additional funding we receive, the more we can do to improve education for your child and all Queen’s Park High School students.

We are aware there are children who attend Queen’s Park High School who are entitled to free school meals but do not realise it.  We are also aware that some parents choose not to take up the entitlement to a free school meal as they do not want to risk their child being treated differently.

Please be reassured that our ‘cashless catering’ fingerprint scanners mean that no other students are aware of who receives free school meals, and who does not.

Your child would receive a £2.30 allowance per day allowing them to have a hot meal, dessert, and a drink each day. 

Even if your child does not wish to take up the free daily meal allowance, applying will mean that the school will receive the additional funding.

To check if you qualify, and to apply, please go to the following Cheshire West and Chester Council webpage:

If you have difficulties claiming online, please contact the council:
Email: benefits@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk or call Tel: 0300 123 7021 to discuss making a telephone or paper application.

If you qualify, the majority of claims are dealt with the same day and your entitlement will start the day after. A letter of entitlement will be issued to you and the council will notify the school.