Biometric systems are used at West Norfolk Academies Trust schools. These systems incorporate Cashless Catering and e-Registration.  Students use the biometric facility when purchasing from the school canteen and self-registration for sixth form students. 

It uses the latest biometric technology to scan the student’s finger.  This generates a unique number which is used to identify your child and allows them to use both systems.  The fingerprint image is not stored and can only be used by these systems.

In accordance with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, West Norfolk Academies Trust requires parental consent to use your child’s fingerprint as part of the biometric recognition system, we therefore ask you to provide consent should you wish your child to use it via the MCAS app ASAP. This will allow us time to set up your child with a biometric account. This information will be processed in compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 at all times. 

This consent will continue until the child either leaves the school or stops using the system. Once your child stops using the system, their biometric information will be securely deleted by the school.

Pupils who wish to opt out of the fingerprint system will be issued with a unique pin number which can be used at both the canteen and for e-registration. 

We are required by the DfE to take an individual photo of your child for identification purposes. However, there will also be times when it is appropriate to take photographs/videos of our pupils for display boards, school website, social media, and promotional material. Occasionally our school may be visited by the media who may take photographs or video footage. In accordance with our obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018, we will prevent your child’s image being used in this way unless you provide your consent via your MCAS app. If you have any further queries about photo or video use then please contact our Data Protection Officer via: dpo@westnorfolkacademiestrust.co.uk

Photography or filming will only take place with permission of the headteacher or senior school staff and always under appropriate supervision. All images of pupil’s will be carefully selected and not used out of context. Historic photographs may remain on our school website and social media feeds. Home addresses or personal contact details of pupils will never be provided under any circumstances in any publications. We will only use images of pupils who are suitably dressed, to reduce the risk of such images being used inappropriately. Parents/Carers consent will be recorded on the school’s Management Information System and will be retained no longer than is necessary for the purpose the data was obtained for.

At West Norfolk Academies Trust we use G Suite for Education as our hosted solution. G Suite for Education offers two categories of Google services:

1.         Core Service
2.         Additional Services

G Suite Core Services (like Gmail, Calendar, and Classroom) are the heart of Google's educational offering to schools. Additional Services (like YouTube, Maps, and Blogger) are designed for consumer users and can optionally be used with G Suite for Education accounts.

While we don’t require consent for pupils to use the core service, we are required by Google to obtain consent for the use of the Additional Services as follows:

YouTube, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google photos, Google Forms, Google Groups, Google News, Google Sketch up.

To learn more about what Additional Services are, and how they differ from Core Services, in the Help Centre at https://support.google.com/a/answer/6356441.

Consent for Google’s additional services can be provided via your MCAS app.

Google provides information about the information it collects, as well as how it uses and discloses the information it collects from G Suite for Education accounts in its G Suite for Education Privacy Notice. You can read that notice online at https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html You should review this information in its entirety.

West Norfolk Academies Trust can provide your child with access to the internet. Consent for this can be given via your MCAS app. We have strict filtering and monitoring systems in place which will stop your child being able to access inappropriate content. For more information on this, please read our Online Safety Policy.

In order to ensure the health and welfare of your child, we need to know if they have an allergy to any food, or if they are not allowed to eat any particular foods. If your child has any allergies, intolerances or cannot eat any foods due to a religion/cultural belief please make sure you have told us in the Medical Information Section on your MCAS app.

Springwood High School would like to use student’s contact details to get in touch with you in the future about alumni events and activities. This helps us continue to build a community around the school and offer enrichment opportunities to students as well as raise extra money so that we can continue to improve on the experience that students get here. Consent for this can be given via your MCAS app.