(1888PressRelease)
February 19, 2008 - The introduction of an innovative Cashless Catering system based on technology from VeriCool for Schools has helped schools throughout the UK buck the national trend by increasing the number of pupils eating healthy meals.
The new system is helping schools around Britain promote the Government’s initiative for healthy eating in schools and to eradicate any potential issues associated with cash-based school lunch systems. Children can no longer spend their money on other items such as sweets and fizzy drinks, the risk of them losing their money is reduced and catering staff are able to serve hungry pupils more quickly.
Essex based Deanes schools, a specialist Sports College with over one thousand pupils has had a ‘Healthy Living’ focus at the school for the past 18-months and the implementation of Cashless Catering further enabled it to ensure students received nutritious healthy meals.
Commenting on the brand new system Jan Atkinson, Head Teacher said: “A significant number of parents are now also using ParentPay, a web service that lets parents make secure online payments to schools by credit and debit card. This allows parents to put money in their children’s account and be sure that it is spent in the school dining room and not elsewhere. In addition, parents are also able to request a report from the school which shows what their child has bought. This has been found to be very reassuring for parents whose children have allergies, childhood diabetes or similar conditions where their diet needs careful monitoring.”
Acquiring school lunch could now not be simpler - at the point of payment pupils place their finger on the fingertip scanner, and once successfully verified by the Catering Point of Sale Operator their account is debited.
The system has also been praised by Ofsted2 for an increased take-up of school lunches among pupils from low income families. Any stigma parents and students felt about receiving free school lunches disappeared thanks to the anonymity of cashless catering. Throughout the UK more than 20 per cent of students who are entitled to free meals do not take them and in many schools the figure is significantly higher.
There are three payment methods for VeriCool for Schools’ Cashless Catering systems available; a smart tag bar code on a key ring, a numerical keypad for PIN verification or a fingertip verification scanner, which is popular with schools which have been using a swipe card system but found there was a problem with pupils losing cards. Replacing smart tags is a fraction of the cost compared to parents having to pay up to £4 for lost swipe cards while putting a time consuming burden on school administration. All three solutions are interchangeable so schools can be flexible as to which system suits them.
Sue Wojtowicz, Business Manager at Peterborough based Hampton College said: “When the college opened in September 2005, the technology already installed for the cashless catering system used swipe cards. From previous experience I knew that a card system would be a high maintenance option. I wanted a reliable system that would reduce the administrative burden on staff and reduce the cost of replacing lost or damaged cards for parents. Students often lose or forget their cards, but they should always have a finger with them! Before joining Hampton College, I had seen a demonstration of VeriCool’s fingerprint system for Class Registration and had been impressed with the biometric technology. Hampton College already has a number of different systems and we wanted to find a solution for cashless catering that would help us now, and prepare the school for an increase in student population in the not too distant future.”
VeriCool has also welcomed the DCSF’s long awaited implementation guidelines, produced over the summer, after parents, schools and MPs pressed the government to clarify issues surrounding data protection consent and how this information will be used. The guidelines make it clear that data can only be used for its expressed purpose and cannot be passed to a third party organisation. Parents and pupils must be made fully aware of the technology’s function and the data should not be kept for any longer than its specified purpose. 3
“We received a lot of enquiries on this subject and we welcome the fact the guidelines are in place at last to reassure parents and schools that pupil information is secure and collected by consent,” said Paul Coase, Business Development Director, VeriCool for Schools.
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The government has pledged £372m to tackle the child obesity issue in the UK, including £75m for a campaign to changes to their children's diet and increase levels of physical activity.
2 Ofsted report, Food in schools: encouraging healthier eating. Ref: 070016, October 2007
3The guidelines were produced by the Department for Children, School and Families in conjunction with the government’s school ICT agency BECTA and the Information Commissioner. VeriCool’s website has a full guide to the new Data Protection guidelines. www.VeriCool.co.uk
