A SCHOOL is introducing a fingerprint scanner to let pupils buy lunch at the touch of a finger.

From January, pupils and staff at Banbury School, in Ruskin Road, Banbury, will adopt the cashless system.

At the moment, the entire school of about 1,400 children and 150 staff are in the process of getting their fingerprints taken.

The system is designed to give parents more control over what their children eat because what youngsters buy will be logged.

Parents will simply pay cash into an online account and the money will be deducted as it is spent.

The school is the third in the county to introduce the system.

North Oxfordshire Academy, in Banbury, has been running it since 2007, while Bartholomew School, in Eynsham, started using the scheme in September.

Banbury School principal Dr Fiona Hammans said the school decided to move to the cashless system after catering company Sodexo said it would speed up its service.

She said: “Each child has their fingerprint scanned – it’s not CSI Miami – and an algorithm of the pattern is what’s stored, not the fingerprint.

“Because the children are so technologically savvy they have got no issues with it.”

Pupil Gabbie O’Sullivan, 11, said: “I think this is going to be a far better system because there are times when I forget my money and I have to try to borrow it.”

However, the move was criticised by campaign group LeaveThemKidsAlone, whi-ch said the system was a violation of children’s privacy.

Spokesman David Clouter said: “Our view is that to fingerprint children for school meals is disproportionate and a violation of their privacy.”

Despite the criticism, Dr Hammans stressed that the technology would not be a Big Brother-type system and that it would teach children about budgeting.

The school plans to test the system for about six weeks from mid-December before introducing it permanently at the end of January.

Ruth Robinson, headteacher at North Oxfordshire Academy, said the school had been using the system for two years and had seen benefits.

She said: “It has been absolutely wonderful. We don’t have any problems with it. What it does is speed up the queueing in the restaurant.”

She said the system also removed any stigma around children who got free school lunches.

Oxfordshire County Council said no figures were available for the number of schools who used the system.