Contactless biometric method
Facial Recognition is a contactless biometric method situated at the PoS. This innovative technology enhances the speed of service and retains the security of fingerprints while eliminating the requirement to physically touch a scanner, making school meal purchases completely contactless.
Using technology to improve the student lunchtime experience
Kingsmeadow Community School in Gateshead, England, is one of the first schools in the UK to introduce Facial Recognition to school mealtimes, going live with the software in September 2020.
The school, which utilises Fusion Cashless, iPayimpact online payments and iDStore identity management from CRB Cunninghams, chose to enhance their integrated cashless solution with this completely contactless recognition method.
“Facial Recognition is fast! It just works!”
Installing the software over the summer of 2020 meant that pupils of Kingsmeadow School were among the first in the UK to use integrated Facial Recognition technology in their school lunchtimes at the start of the 20/21 academic year.
Maxine Webb, Business Manager at Kingsmeadow, said she has had a “perfect” response from pupils, going on to say:
“Honestly, it’s just worked perfectly from day one. The things we were fearful of, such as children, staff, or visitors who wore glasses, would that be an issue? Would identical twins be an issue? Not at all. I can’t believe it, but I’ve had no complaints from pupils, parents, or staff.”
With most pupils now utilising Facial Recognition technology, Kingsmeadow School has seen a considerable increase in their speed of service:
“Without a shadow of a doubt, Facial Recognition is faster than fingerprints!”
Over 70% of pupils choose Facial Recognition
To remain GDPR compliant, users of Facial Recognition must opt-in to use the technology. CRB Cunninghams advise that schools gain explicit consent for the use of this technology with a straightforward opt-in process that is easily managed via the Fusion cashless system. For Kingsmeadow School, this process was simple:
“Most of the consent was already there for fingerprints, so parents did not see an issue opting in for Facial Recognition as another biometric method.
“Technology is moving along at a fast pace, and our parents weren’t surprised by this new technology.”
This ethos has clearly been reflected in the number of users of the new technology, with a tremendous uptake of over 70% of the pupils opting in to use Facial Recognition. For pupils who choose to opt out of using the software, there are four other recognition methods to choose from within the Fusion cashless system: fingerprints, QR codes, contactless cards, and PIN.
“The software has been praised by pupils, parents, and catering staff. Facial Recognition is fast and answers the growing need for contactless lunch service within schools.
“The CRB Cunninghams team are very helpful and knowledgeable about the product. The entire process has been seamless.”
Maxine summarises her experience with Facial Recognition by stating:
“It’s just worked from day one. Senior leaders at Kingsmeadow were keen to test it out, and from the beginning, there were very few blips. We are really impressed with how the software has performed! Any issues that we thought might be a problem were just not an issue. Everything has been well thought through and is easily managed from within the cashless system.”
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