ONE of the biggest secondary schools in Woodford Green has sparked outrage after it announced plans to take the fingerprints of all its pupils and staff.

The scheme, at Woodbridge High School, forms part of a new school dinners system where pupils will have to place their fingers on a scanner which will then be used to identify whether they are entitled to free meals or how much money they have on an account to ‘buy’ food.

The school insists children’s data will be protected, but parents have questioned why Woodbridge cannot just use swipe cards instead.

There is also fury that the school and its governors pushed through the changes without consulting parents first.

One concerned father, Alan Clemens, told the Guardian: “I am totally against my child being fingerprinted, patterned or any other method which could compromise my child's present and future security.

“I don’t think schools are able to handle the type of security for the keeping of such sensitive data.”

The technology, which will be introduced in June, converts pupils’ prints into a numbered code to identify them.

The school has told the Guardian that actual prints will be instantly deleted and not stored, but lobby group Leave Them Kids Alone (LTKA) says such systems do store images.

And at a meeting yesterday afternoon staff admitted to parents that the system will store a "partial" image.

A spokesman for LTKA said: “Schools usually try to reassure parents by saying ‘the system does not store a fingerprint, just a number’, but the short answer is that fingerprint templates are what is stored on these systems.

“These are the equivalent of fingerprints - rather like the difference between a drawing and a photo - otherwise the systems simply wouldn't work.”

And one report by the US Government's Subcommittee on Biometrics in August 2005 stated: “there have been studies where pseudo-fingerprint images have been reconstructed from the fingerprint template, and face images have been reconstructed from face templates.”

There is also the potential that such information could be accessed and abused by future technology not yet developed.

'IT'S IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF PUPILS AND STAFF' SAYS SCHOOL

But Frank Gordon, Director of Support Services at Woodbridge, said the system was secure and would benefit students and staff.

Governors and management argue it will be easy to use, shorten lunchtime queues, reduce the risk of cash being lost and will help provide anonymity to students who have free meals.

Parents will also be able to receive printed reports of their child’s purchases, which the school argues will encourage healthy eating.

However the school has admitted that all these benefits can “almost entirely be met using a swipe-card system,” but argue that cards can be lost by pupils “which will then cause disruption to the canteen service.”

The school also insists the system does not take finger "prints" but “patterns”. However the company which is supplying the technology to Woodbridge themselves refer to it as “fingerprinting” on their website.

Parents who wish their children to opt-out can request a swipe card instead.

Mr Gordon added: “the school is open to receive any concerns of individuals and will be pleased to offer assurances that it has been thought through extremely thoroughly and it is in the best interests of pupils and staff.”

The school has refused to disclose the cost of the scheme.

COUNCIL UNAWARE OF ANY OTHER SCHOOLS IN REDBRIDGE PLANNING TO TAKE FINGERPRINTS

A spokeswoman for Redbridge Council said Woodbridge was not part of the borough's school meal contract.

She added: “They therefore deal with the service provider directly. We are aware however that the school is in the process of installing a cashless system for school meals.

"We know some other schools are introducing a cashless system for school meals like Woodbridge but are not aware of a fingerprint system being used.”

An estimated 1,100 schools currently use the technology - commonly referred to as “biometric cashless systems” - nationwide.

PARENTS CONFRONT STAFF AT MEETING OVER LACK OF CONSULTATION

A HASTILY arranged “demonstration” of the technology was held yesterday afternoon at Woodbridge High just days after the Guardian began asking the school questions about the new policy.

Furious parents confronted deputy headteacher Jeremy Clifton and other staff over why the school had pushed ahead with the changes without discussing it with them first.

One dad said: "it would have nice, if not appropriate, for there to have been some consultation with us as parents before a decision was made."

Another mother added: “I've worked in fraud and this is why I'm so worried about this, where children are concerned.”

Concerns were also raised that in future fingerprints could form an essential part of a person’s ID in accessing banks accounts, etc, and that the school should not hold such information.

Some also claimed they had only been given a day’s notice about the meeting, which was held at 5pm when many parents were at work.

Another “frustrated” parent told the Guardian after the meeting: “If the data is harmless and not a security risk, why is the school storing it on a secure server? It doesn’t make sense.”

SCHOOL: 'CONCERNS FROM PARENTS WILL BE ADDRESSED'

Mr Gordon, in a series of statements to the Guardian, said: "We are in the process of issuing parents with a second letter (which will give more details of the project and further assurances of it being a carefully thought-through system that has been undertaken by many other schools).

"We are also discussing the system at school assemblies, when pupils are given the opportunity to ask questions as appropriate.

"We are mindful of the importance of making ourselves available to deal with any queries as they arise.

"I should add that we have visited a few local schools to see the biometrics cashless scheme in operation and it has proved to be very successful in those institutions."

"Information is personally passworded and is used solely for the purpose of administering the accounts of individuals. It is operated under strict guidelines set out by the Data Protection Act 1998.

"Biometric systems have been developed with support from the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

"It is important to point out that the system records `finger patterns’, with finger images being erased immediately, as opposed to what is commonly understood to be `finger-printing’.

"The finger pattern is converted into what is called an `algorithm’, which means that it is stored as a number, with no image being held on the system.

"It is an entirely secure process and no additional information of a personal nature is retained at the school."

Mr Gordon added that no members of staff had said they wished to opt-out of the scheme.