Parents to be fingerprinted by nursery schools

Urmee Khan
Telegraph
October 29, 2008

Up to 50 nurseries and playgroups have already signed up for the new security measures, thought to be the first time parents have been targetted in this way.

Civil libertarians have branded the decision a “huge overeaction”.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The new entry system requires people who collect their children to place their finger on a scanner, to make sure that only nominated individuals can get through secure entrances.

Kidsunlimited, the nursery chain, will be rolling out the new technology to its 50 playgroups.

Honeycomb Solutions, the security firm behind the technology, say it is an effective way to monitor who is on their premises.

The scanners work by converting parents’ finger prints into a code number. This number enables the system to recognise the finger, without storing any biometric data.

The company claims that the database cannot be accessed by any human, similar to the way banks protect credit card pin numbers.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Peter Churchley of Caring Daycare, a group of eight nursery schools in Surrey that cater for children aged 3 months to 5 years, said: “We’ve had the Honeycombe Solutions fingerprinting technology installed in two of our nurseries.

“Parents have reacted very positively to the moves and the security is a reassurace that the premises are secure for recognised people. I do think a greater number of nurseries will be thinking about finger printing. We also have CCTV camera.”

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This article was posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 11:16 am

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