Tyler doesn't want to be finger-printed

A school has taken fingerprint records of hundreds of pupils as it prepares to introduce cashless lunch cards.

But the move by Longfield Academy has gone down badly with one parent, who made frantic efforts to object to the school's policy.

Tracy Towner received a letter on Friday informing her that the Main Road academy would be taking fingerprints of her 12-year-old son Tyler, on Monday.

The fingerprints would be used to create cashless dining cards, when the school's new buildings open in September. Miss Towner immediately wrote to the school withholding consent.

On Monday, Tyler returned home, reporting that a teacher had tried to get him to have his fingerprints swiped, with the teacher adding that without doing so he "wouldn't be able to have any dinner".

Miss Towner contacted the Messenger on Tuesday lunchtime. After we contacted the school the same day to ask about the fingerprint policy, the academy's principal called back, apologised, and said another card system would be found for Tyler.

Miss Towner, of Beacon Drive, Bean, said: "I was upset with the way Tyler had been spoken to, but I was grateful it was rectified the next day.

"I don't believe this sort of information should be stored about minors. I did my research and looked up all the campaign groups before contacting the school.

"They said the fingerprint information is used to create an electronic identity for the cards, before the fingerprints are destroyed, but I still feel uneasy and question how they can be destroyed off a computer's hard drive.

"People didn't expect Sony to get hacked into, but that still happened.

Neil Willis, principal of Longfield Academy, said as soon as the fingerprint was taken, the information was stored as a digital signature and the fingerprint discarded straight away.

He added: "Out of 1,150 pupils on roll, we have only had one query about this and the company we are working with has experience of providing this system in schools.

"What we are trying to do is create a fair system for all pupils. Currently pupils who have free school meals have to collect a token and these cards will stop that."

The Data Protection Act asks organisations to get consent before taking any biometric data, but human rights group Liberty said a new Protection of Freedoms Bill, going before Parliament, would go further to set out what schools have to do before processing fingerprint information.

Sophie Farthing, policy officer for Liberty, added: "We don't think it is ever necessary for schools to take this biometric data and that there are other ways of taking information for 'convenience' purposes, such as cashless cards.

"We also question what sort of message this sends to children about their privacy.

"As a parent I would want to know who has access to this data, what training they will have before accessing it, how long it will be stored for and where."