SANDBACH School is leading the way in combating childhood obesity and bullying with the implementation of a hi-tech catering system.

The school has put an end to rowdy lunch queues with an innovative biometric fingerprint recognition cashless catering system.

The new system is helping the school promote healthy eating and to eradicate any potential issues associated with cash-based school lunch systems.

Boys can no longer spend their money on other items such as sweets and fizzy drinks, the risk of them losing their money is reduced and caterers are able to serve pupils more quickly.

School bursar Euan Imrie said: "The system has been in use since the beginning of the year and is a complete success.

"Parents can put money in their children's account and be sure that it is spent in the school refectory and not elsewhere.

"A significant number of parents are using ParentPay, a web service that lets parents make secure online payments to schools by credit and debit card.

"In addition they are now able to request a report from the school which shows what their child has bought.

"This has been found to be very reassuring for parents whose children have allergies, childhood diabetes or similar conditions where their diet needs careful monitoring."

To get their lunch pupils place a finger on a fingertip scanner and once that is successfully verified their account is then debited.

Mr Imrie added: "By being able to monitor what the boys are choosing to eat we are able to reduce waste while offering nutritious school meals.

"We have had a really good response from parents and are now looking at ways of using the fingertip system for other purposes for example school trips."