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"Cashless catering helps boost school dinner use"
21 January 2009 - Wiltshire

Secondary schools from Chippenham and Trowbridge are using cashless smartcard technology as part of their initiative to encourage pupils to eat healthy school lunches.

Following successful trials last term both Sheldon School in Chippenham and St Augustine’s Catholic College in Trowbridge, are now using the sQuid eMoney smartcard system.

Wiltshire County Council was awarded funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families to help schools with catering projects and both of the schools were allocated money to help install this cashless system.

Pupils are issued with a personalised smartcard containing the sQuid eMoney purse, which parents top-up online ready for use. Pupils pay for school meals using the card at a reader which is integrated with the till in the canteen. Transaction history is available to parents through their online account.

The system also allows a discrete method of administering free school meals, with the individual’s card automatically topped up by the school administrator.

Sarah King, school meals strategy coordinator for Wiltshire County Council, said: “Both schools have worked extremely hard with sQuid to get the pilot cashless catering projects off the ground.  Cashless transactions are quicker to process, and school meals uptake has increased. It is really encouraging to see more pupils eating school lunches.”

From the schools’ perspective, both Sheldon and St Augustine’s are keen to expand the use of the smartcard in the schools. Sheldon’s catering is supplied by Sodexo, and the catering manager, Nicole Owen, said: “Paying with sQuid is much faster at the till than using cash, and the children love having their own card.”

Joe Alsop, deputy head at St Augustine’s, said: “The school has worked closely with sQuid to support the implementation of a pilot e-money cashless catering system and we will continue to monitor its impact.”

sQuidcard is extending the school cashless programme following the success of the pilots. “sQuid is an ideal payment system for schools, since it is low-cost, easy to implement and ideal for young people. It removes the need to have cash at the school, and gives parents a way to ensure that money is spent on lunches. It will also be useful in future for payment of other activities at the school”, said Adam Smith, managing director of sQuidcard.

 

View article on the Wiltshire County Council web site >>

Download PDF of coverage in the Swindon Advertiser >>