High School asking for partial biometric thumbprints?

[Ahmawa]

I maybe out of the loop with my child entering high school but is this now a standard request asking for partial biometric thumbprint for school meals and entry into the school?

Has anyone denied the request?

Yes.

it’s standard for school meals. It means the school can be cashless.

It's been standard round here for a fair while

Yes same here for them to use their cafe account. Way better than cash or a card that can get lost.

Standard here too.

I declined. This was 10 years ago though so things might have changed since then.

Uk data protection rules
.: they need to provide an opt out

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/lawful-basis/biometric-data-guidance-biometric-recognition/how-do-we-process-biometric-data-lawfully/

Not everyone can use fingerprint systems so they can usually provide a card as an alternative, if it’s for lunch.

Been standard for about a decade I think!

We have used it in our school for at least the last 15 years. A partial print is not the same as keeping an entire thumbprint. It is super quick in queues at mealtimes, cannot get lost or stolen, no one knows who is on FSM or not. Like your child’s address etc the school need to follow GDPR with the stored data.
Very, very few of our parents decline permission and it is a right ballache for their kids when they do, and generally by the end of the first half term the kid has persuaded their parent to agree!

Even Dc1, who lost keys, travel cards, coats, bags, everything on a regular basis, never lost half a thumb so it was all good in my book.

So your school has chosen not to offer a viable alternative to allow students to opt out?

Or how is their system access ending in a ballache?

It is standard.
They don't store the fingerprint, only a number generated by it.
Much safer than cash or a card that can be lost or stolen.

Did the school have them record both thumbs, though, just in case? When DD was at two schools in succession which used this system I assumed that this was standard, although I think the example given was 'sticking plaster', not amputation...

Our DC school has had this for at least 8 years, for paying for things at school

I did supply teaching for a long time and yes this is fairly standard for buying food.

A ball ache if I was just doing a day's cover and hadn't brought food with me.

It's not a thumb/finger print as such it is converted in to a number so when you put your thumb on the scanner the algorithm creates the number and checks with the account.

Yep and far easier than the lanyard DD has that you have to remember. Far easier for DS who cannot forget his thumb! It is used for entry as well

Yes, standard. Read any blurb or links that school sent. The thumbprint (partial) is usually converted by an algorithm to a coded sequence - a unique alphanumeric password for your child, that they don't have to remember and no one else can use.
Read the privacy and data protection info about how long the data will be stored for etc.
It's not DNA, it's not police fingerprints.
If your research does not put your mind at rest, then I imagine you can opt out.

In my school you can opt out and use a PIN instead, but the thumb scanner is way quicker. We have 1000+ students to get through lunch in 50 minutes so the thumb scan is the fastest way to work. As other people have said, it means that other students have no idea who the FSM kids are, which IMHO is a good thing.

@AnSolas of course we have an alternative, student scan be given a pin, which they inevitably forget, or get muddled up ( and is slower anyway) and that holds the queue up, with over 2000 students that can be an issue

None of my fingerprints ever work. In some schools a card is used instead, in others you just give your name.