Dear Parent/Carer
In June the school wrote to you advising of the new way of paying for catering, trips and visits and school equipment. It is now time to move forward with our plans and as part of this we need to ask you for your consent to register your child/children’s details onto the new biometric system.
The purpose of biometric registration is so students and staff can register payments for meals in school. Currently this is all the biometrics will be used for. In time, the school may extend this to our library to register book loans and photocopier machines but for now we are only using biometrics to register payments.
The company the school is using for this system is CRB Cunninghams (www.crbcunninghams.co.uk) and it is their payment system iPayimpact which you will have access to make payments by credit/debit cards online. Further details about how to use the online payment system are to follow.
Please can you confirm your consent here by Wednesday 7 October 2020.
On Thursday 15 October the school will be registering students and staff who have provided consent for us to do so. All students will be kept in their year group bubbles and the school will ensure all Covid-19 guidelines with regard to cleaning and sanitising are followed.
If at any time you wish to withdraw your consent you may do so and this may be done in writing to the school.
Please be aware that Squid payment cards will not be accepted from Monday 2nd November and all balances currently held on Squid accounts should be used by Friday 23 October.
Below is some further information provided by CRB Cunninghams regarding biometrics along with some frequently asked questions.
What Are Biometrics?
Biometrics authentication is the automatic recognition of a living being using suitable body characteristics. By measuring an individual’s physical features in an authentication inquiry and comparing this data with stored biometric reference data, the identity of a specific user is determined. There are many different biometric features that can be used for authentication purposes; these include finger image, signature, iris, retina, DNA or any other unique characteristic. Once a characteristic has been chosen the next stage in the Biometric process is authentication. A biometric feature is saved on to a database. Once the data has been stored, a new scanning of the biometric feature is taken. If the comparison is positive, access to the appropriate application is granted.
The History of Biometrics
Biometric technology is now being used at many locations around the country. Banks, supermarkets and now schools and colleges are adopting this increasingly popular technology. Biometrics are not new; their roots have been traced back to ancient Egyptian times. The use of finger images as a security device over the last few years has become very widespread with many popular brands of phone making use of it.
Whilst the use of Biometrics has been steadily growing over the last ten years, the past couple of years have seen an explosion in development, interest and vendor involvement.
Biometrics and Security
Students, parents and staff can rest assured that the fingerprint images cannot be used by any other source for identification purposes. The system uses an image of the finger to create a mathematical algorithm and then discards the finger image; only the numbers remain and these cannot be reinterpreted back into a finger image.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you need to take my child’s finger image?
By taking an image of your child’s finger we can turn this information into a digital signature.
Can finger images be used by any other agency?
No, the software we use turns your child’s finger image into a mathematical algorithm. The image of the finger is then discarded. The information that is stored cannot be used to recreate an image of the child’s finger.
What happens when my child leaves the School?
When a student leaves school all data can be deleted very easily.
How does it work?
When the child places their finger on the scanner, the software matches their finger image with the unique digital signature held in the database.
Please complete the electronic consent form by Wednesday 7 October 2020.
Yours faithfully
Mrs A Batchelor
Business Manager