West Berkshire schoolchildren routinely fingerprinted

The revelation has prompted a new debate over what some see as ‘Big Brother’ surveillance in the education system.
In September the Newbury Weekly News reported how CCTV was being used in the toilets at Theale Green Community School and Denefield School, Tilehurst.
The information was revealed following a survey by a campaign group Big Brother Watch.
But civil liberty campaigners are also concerned about the use of ‘biometric data’ such as facial recognition technology and fingerprinting in schools.
The latest row was sparked by a parent who complained to Alan Macro (Lib Dem, Theale) that their child at Trinity School in Newbury had been fingerprinted as part of a biometric system to facilitate the school lunches system.
In his blog Mr Macro wrote: “I heard today that a letter went out to parents of schoolchildren on Friday asking for permission for their children to be fingerprinted...children would not be able to have school meals if they had not been fingerprinted.. .I'm trying to find out: who authorised this; why the notice period was so short; why no alternative arrangements are being made for children are not happy about their children being fingerprinted.”
Later Mr Macro said that: “Both Trinity and Kennet schools are now academies, so neither the council nor councillors have much influence on what they do.”
It meanwhile became apparent that Kennet School - like Trinity School, has already been using biometric identification of pupils for school lunches.
Mr Macro said: “Both Trinity and Kennet schools are now academies, so neither the council nor councillors have much influence on what they do.”
Executive member for education Irene Neill (Con, Aldermaston), said: “Kennet have had this system in place for some years - they do not buy into the council contract. This is not something that West Berkshire Council would be considering to look at within our catering contract.
“I would certainly recommend that any school who makes their own catering arrangements should carry out a full and thorough consultation before implementing any such scheme and to include an opt out if possible.”
The headteacher of Kennet School, Paul Dick, said: “We have a large catering operation here, as you can imagine, and cash always brings challenges. From pupils losing it, through to having to have regular vans here to collect it, it was a nuisance.
“We moved to a credit card system which worked well except that the cards often got broken or snapped, particularly if they were in the washing machine!
“We came across the new biometric system whereby an image of a pupil’s fingerprint (not the actual fingerprint) is stored on a database, securely in school.
“Parents can charge the pupil’s account by sending a cheque into school or there are machines where pupils can feed cash into the machines, instantly charged to their account.”
Mr Dick said security, the speed of use, that the pupils liked it, and that there was a better analysis of what food was eaten were all valid reasons for its use.
Headteacher at Trinity School, Charlotte Wilson, said: “Trinity, like many other secondary schools, has introduced a cashless online payment system for school meals. The system involves using a reader to measure a number of points on a student’s fingerprint. The system is designed to speed up payment at the tills, reduce cash being carried by students each day and the possibility of forgetting lunch money and it allows parents to monitor the amount of money spent in the canteen as well as food choices.
“This system (Parent Pay) holds a limited amount of information about each child which is used solely for the purpose of administering the account for payment. Information is not shared or given to any other organisations.”
In May 2012 the Protection of Freedoms Act ruled that parents should be notified by the relevant authority that they are planning to process their child's biometrics and notified that they are able to object.
Campaigner Pippa King has an online blog at www.pippaking.blogspot.co.uk