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School Ofsted Report
Following the School's recent Ofsted report Mrs. Spillane recieved the following letters of support from Councillor Jack Hulme and Michael Jameson . Michael is the Assistant Executive Director Children and Young People at Oldham Council.
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Mr Hulme's Letter |
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Mr Jameson's Letter |
Cashless Dining System
Parentpay.com
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From the beginning of next term you will have more convenient ways to pay for school meals. The school will be using a new service call ParentPay® and we are sure you will want to help us implement this cashless payment system for meals. Click on the Parentpay icon above to access the site.
On the 1st June 2009 the system will go live and you can start
making payments for your child’s (children’s) school meals.
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Quick Guide to using Parentpay.com |
The Cashless Dining system
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Daily Menu |
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Daily Specials Menu Oct 09 |
During our consultations with pupils and staff about improving the dining facilities it was suggested that a cashless system would improve the dining area. Many schools have already installed a cashless system and feel that the pupils have benefited from this service. Therefore a new bio-metric system will be installed in our school from September.
The main advantages of the bio-metric cashless system are:
MONEY
Once students have money credited to their accounts there is no need for them to carry any cash. This alleviates many of the associated problems with the use of cash in schools. i.e. Loss, theft and potential bullying.
This system discourages the misuse of school dinner money through spending on sweets and sugar drinks in local shops outside of the school grounds.
There is less chance of pupils spending their dinner money on other things, especially if you send CHEQUES directly to the school.
This is a Convenient way of paying for school meals. No more looking for change every morning.
HEALTHY EATING
Healthy eating is encouraged. You may see what your child eats. The system will record each purchase that is made and you may ask to see a print out of your child’s purchases over any given period.
SPEED OF SERVICE
This will mean that students spend less time queuing and have more time to eat their meal.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS
Automatic free meal allocation means that the pupil remains anonymous.
Students who receive free school meals are handled in exactly the same way as everyone else and no one, other than our staff in the administration department, will be aware who receives free school meals.
HOW WILL THE SYSTEM WORK
Each pupil’s finger will be enrolled by the school into their personal dining account. During this process the print image is automatically converted into a 13 digit number.
The Cashless Payment System uses a biometric finger scanner, which is compliant with data protection requirements. No fingerprint is ever stored in the system. It is not possible to recreate an image of the original scanned fingerprint from the unique number that is stored within the database.
Both the Information Commissioner and the Department for Children Young People and Families have confirmed that they have no data protection concerns as a result of using this technology. Payments can also be entered manually without using the finger scanner. Should parents have any objections to their child being registered using the finger scanner please inform the Head Teacher, in writing before the 1st of July 2008
All current pupil’s finger scanning will take place on the 3rd and 4th July. The new Year 7 pupils on the 2nd September.
At the same time as the bio-metric image is taken we shall also take a photograph which will appear on the computerised till screen when purchases are being made.
All free meal, paying and packed lunch students will be enrolled onto the system as we may use the system to introduce a bio-metric door entry system in the future.
Students may credit their accounts by inserting cash into a wall mounted account credit machine and may check the value of their accounts on the same machine.
When a student wishes to purchase food from the dining room they simply place their finger on the scanner at the till. Their accounts will automatically be opened and the meal choice will be recorded and debited against the account. The whole transaction will take only 4-5 seconds compared to our current transaction time of between 25 and 45 seconds.
There will be a daily spend limit programmed into the system of £3.00. (However this can be increased or decreased for individual children upon written request from parents).
To calculate how much you should credit your son or daughter’s account, I suggest that you check the school menus on this page .
However, here is an example of an approximate figure based upon what a number of our students currently purchase. Healthy school main meals are currently £1.50; a small dessert is 30p; a juice based drink is 50p and a bagel bought at breaktime would be 50p. This works out at £2.80 per day, £14.00 per week or £56.00 for a four weekly block.
It is vital that all parents/guardians understand that the system will start in operation on Tuesday 2nd September 2008. Pupils will be informed and given an explanation on how the system will operate.
FROM THIS DAY NO CASH WILL BE ACCEPTED AT THE FOOD COUNTER TILL POINT.
Parent/guardians will be able to credit their son/daughter’s account in two ways.
By CHEQUE which can be deposited in cheque payment boxes which are located in the Broadway Office and the dining room at Vaughan Street.
Cheques should be made payable to OUR LADY’S RC HIGH SCHOOL
Please write the full name and form group of your son/daughter on the back of the cheque.
If the payment is to be shared between two or more pupils please identify all on the reverse of the cheque with full names and form groups
Cheques must be deposited BEFORE END OF PERIOD 1 in order for a student’s account to be credited before break. Cheques can cover any period or fixed monetary amount of your own choice. However sufficient funds to cover at least 1 week would be the preferred option.
CASH cannot be used to buy food directly at dinner counters however, should you wish your child to continue to bring dinner money to school there will be an automatic cash terminal (located in the Vaughan Street dining room) where students can deposit and credit their accounts.
Firstly, the pupil should place their finger on the scanner mounted on the cash deposit terminal. The system will display the pupil’s name and current cash balance.
Secondly, the pupil should insert the notes into the slot then press the red button to tell the system that the transaction is completed. The only denominations that the automatic cash terminal will accept will be £5, £10 and £20 notes. Coins will not be accepted.
This is an exciting change for Our Lady’s School and, as we enter this new phase of technology, we hope that you will appreciate its advantages and give this new initiative your full support.
