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 PIN code. 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. 

Student feedback suggests that the use of Payment Cards can be slow when many have been forgotten, which causes extended queue times in our canteen. The new system eradicates the need for students to use cards to identify themselves and Facial Recognition can cut transaction times by 25% to only a few seconds per student!

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 clubs.

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. 

 When students pay for their meal items at the point of sale, the camera matches their unique identifier to their cashless account to take payment. 

1. Consent: Students and parents / carers must opt-in to use Facial Recognition before an image is taken. If we do not have consent for your child using the software, the till operator cannot activate the Facial Recognition process.
2. Capture: The biometric system captures an image of the 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.
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 childs' unique identifier. This unique identifier is stored on a secure, encrypted database within the school and is used to verify childs’ 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.

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. 

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 

Biometric recognition operates on a closed-loop system, which means student data is stored on our secure database.

No, the information is never shared, and the face template representing the childs’ 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. 

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. 

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 smartcard or PIN. 

No. Our 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 students' images for the transaction process when the still staff activates the software. 

We will only use the system for those students for whom we have received consent to do so. Simply do not consent if you do not wish your child to be involved.

Yes. This can be viewed at this link, and our proposed system and method of consent is compliant with this.

Please email us via catering@ringwood.hants.sch.uk and we will remove your consent and issue your child with a PIN code to use instead.