Main School

Cashless Catering

Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School uses a cashless catering system to provide an efficient, fast, and high quality of service in our canteen.

This system incorporates the latest technology and eliminates the need for students to carry cash throughout the day thus reducing the risk of bullying. It uses facial recognition so there is no need for pupils to carry a card or remember a PIN as the system will recognise your child at the tills.  These systems are widely used in Secondary School’s around the country with great success.

Any amount of can be paid into a student’s account, and any money spent on food and drink will be deducted daily.

Payment must be made online via ParentPay.

A daily spend limit of £10 is programmed into the system.  This can be decreased or increased for an individual student.

As per current legislation all pupils will have an annual photograph taken for safeguarding purposes. We will also use a photograph to enable facial recognition in the canteen. If you do not want the photograph of your child used in this way, please let us know. Please be aware that we will always hold a photograph of your child for safeguarding purposes.

Should you have any questions then please contact us.

Frequently Asked Questions

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. It allows schools to be better able to provide their students and staff with a faster, more efficient and more appealing meal service.

Any amount can be credited to an account by ParentPay. Once an account has been credited, the monies cannot be withdrawn and must be spent on the school meal/break services.

Please note that there is a delay of up to 1 hour after your top up on ParentPay before funds will become available on the Cashless Catering system.

Please ensure you have activated your account – if you need any assistance contact us.

The Parent can check via ParentPay

Student can check on the schools SharePoint home page, or by using the Microsoft Teams app.

Yes – the amount your child can spend throughout one day can be changed by written request to the school finance office or you can contact us via the website.

If your child makes a purchase when there are not enough funds their account will become overdrawn. The Cashless Catering System has a debt tracking facility and the overdraft will be expected to be repaid.  The student will only have this facility offered up to £10 unless the school has been made aware of unusual circumstances. If you would not like your child to be able to overdraw their account, please contact us.

All free meal entitlements are entered on to the system. The Cashless Catering System will, daily, automatically allocate the appropriate accounts with the free school meal amounts. Pupils with FSM entitlement always remain anonymous 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 facial recognition, no-one will be able to access your child’s account. If you choose not to have your child’s photograph enabled for facial recognition, we will provide them with a printed QR code. If someone obtains and attempts to use this, a photograph is shown at the EPOS Terminal will alert the operator of a fraudulent sale; however, this obviously is not as secure as using facial recognition as it is open to human error.

Yes – all allergy records registered with the school will be entered on to the Cashless System. When pupils attempt to purchase an item, which contains ingredients that they are allergic to, the system will alert the operator and prevent them from selling the chosen item.

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/guardian and addressed to the Finance Office.

Yes – you can view this online via your ParentPay account.