If your child has a special dietary need please obtain a request form by emailing info@st-peters.bournemouth.sch.uk or speak directly to Head Chef.

The school operate a cashless catering system which incorporates a technology which eliminates the need for pupils to carry cash, reducing the risk of loss. St Peter's catering is provided by an external caterer, Caterlink.

In-line with many of other school's; Students in our Secondary School and Sixth Form use biometric data to access their account, there is no card for them to carry. Biometrics are made up of code and cannot be recreated into a useable fingerprint image. The biometrics system falls under the General Data Protection regulations (GDPR) and as such, neither the school nor Caterlink can allow access to this data by anyone other than for the means that this data was collected. Any biometric data belongs to that individual, and when they leave the school, this data is removed from our records.

Money is loaded onto a student's account by using the external system Parentpay, an online portal. Any amount spent on food or drink will be deducted from the lunch account on a daily basis and this can be viewed by Parents/Carers in the Parentpay application.

Students in Year 7 will be given Parentpay activation letters when they join St Peter’s. Should parents/carers need an activation letter this can be requested from our Finance Team at email finance@st-peters.bournemouth.sch.uk. Password resets can be actioned by logging into www.Parentpay.com and clicking 'forgotten password'. This action will allow Parentpay to send a password reset link to the registered email address.

The maximum daily spend at the Southbourne Site is £7 per day.

Biometric data is operated on an 'opt In' policy. There will be forms allowing parents/carers to give permission for the school to hold student biometric data in the Welcome Packs. Please contact the Finance Team if an additional form is required. Should the student not be authorised for Biometric data to be held, then a PIN code can be issued by the Finance Team. This 4-digit code does not have the same level of security and we suggest the student remembers the code and does not write it down.

If you require any further assistance with cashless catering the Finance Office can be contacted on finance@st-peters.bournemouth.sch.uk or telephone 01202 421141 asking for the Finance Team.

A Cashless Catering System is a solution which is purpose designed to meet the ever-evolving needs and demands of the catering provision, required by today’s schools and academies. The Trust-e Cashless Solution allows schools to be better able to provide their students and staff with a faster, more efficient and more appealing meal service. 

Biometric is simply a method of identifying an individual person. The Trust-e Cashless System uses and algorithm-based scan, which reads between 50 and 130 points on the finger/thumb. It is not a fingerprint in any way, shape or form and is of use only in the Cashless System.

The information of a student or staff member, who has been biometrically registered, is stored on a secure biometric controller within the school, which only your provider, Nationwide Retail Systems, can access with permission from the school. Once an account is credited, the student or staff member places their finger/thumb on the EPOS Terminal Biometric Reader, which looks up their account and allows them to purchase items using only this method of identification. 

The registration will take place ideally when your child attends their taster day, or alternatively as soon as they commence at St Peter’s. Your child will attend at a requested time and will be required to place their finger/thumb on the Biometric Reader twice to obtain a matching template, which only takes a few seconds. If you have chosen to opt-out of this procedure, your child will be presented with a 4 digit PIN code. 

To add credit to your account, please make a payment online via ParentPay.

If you need a reminder of the initial logon password please contact the Finance Office.

This can also be accessed via the school’s online payment facility. 

Yes — the amount your child can spend throughout one day can be changed by written request to St Peter’s School Finance Office. The current spend limit in place is £7.00. 

Students are not permitted to go into debt, so please keep a close eye on the balance via ParentPay online.

All free meal entitlements will be entered on to the system prior to the ‘live’ day. The Cashless Catering System will, on a daily basis, automatically allocate the appropriate accounts with the free school meal amounts. Students with Free School Meal entitlement remain anonymous at all times as all account types are accessed in the exact same manner, regardless of whether paid for or not. Please note that any monies not spent from the daily free meal allocation will not be carried over to the next day. 

No — due to the extensive security on biometric templates, no-one will be able to access your child’s account. As a secondary precaution, a photo image is allocated to each student. If your child is using a 4 digit PIN code, which someone obtains and attempts to use, the photograph shown at the EPOS Terminal will alert the operator of a fraudulent sale. 

The system will allow you to register any items that your child cannot consume due to dietary needs or religious reasons. Any such items must be confirmed in writing by the parent/carer, and addressed to the Catering Manager.

The individual templates are encrypted using a 256-bit AES key that is built into the scanner's hardware. Also, the persisted file is encrypted using a different 256-bit AES key built into the matching algorithm supplied by Secugen and generated by a unique licence purchased for each site. This is more secure than the ANSII and ISO standards that government department’s use as the Secugen Template is encrypted and the ANSII and ISO standards are not. The template data is useless and cannot be interpreted back into a usable fingerprint image. If this was not the case then there would be no world standards and performance measures for such technologies. The data is stored in an array in the RAM of the Biometric Controller and is also permanently stored on the hard drive of the Bio Controller to be restored in the event of a reboot. Below is an example of a template code for an individual finger. 

0X417741414142514141414445415141414151415341414D415A41414141414 14174774541414C714777346C5869656D6C574945494A764A6B42466D68376 16C4E764D704F517874517A706A4A395A31784935686C4177395366726E777 645576357386C4573314B426F47443166694170675559704C76316842364268 2A7043

The solution is secure because the matching can only be done by the individual’s consent as the finger has to be presented to the device for matching. We do not hold images of fingerprints in our system. 

The technology provided for this method of identification meets with BECTA guidelines and also allows students the option to opt out of the scheme and use a PIN number instead. Also, under the data protection act the school or caterer (the originator of the data) cannot allow access to this data by anyone for any other means than for the purpose the data was collected and that is to identify an individual within the solution we supply. Any biometric data that belongs to an individual that leaves the school is purged which also is in line with the BECTA guidelines.

If you have paid into the Years 7 to 13 Lunch Money (Caterlink) through ParentPay and need the balance returning to your ParentPay account. Or if you have paid money into the Lunch Accounts by mistake, please follow the process detailed below to obtain a refund. Refunds should be completed within a week. Should you have any other concerns please contact the School Finance Team on 01202421141 Extension 2340.

Please complete the form below

If you do not have a Google account/want to sign in to Google to submit this form, then you can use this link https://forms.gle/7CwYJmNLkTce6RmP8 . However, we would ask that a screenshot of your child’s balance on the cashless system is sent to meals@wshgroup.co.uk  as proof of balance. If this is not completed, this may result in a payment delay.