A Cambridgeshire school is on the verge of throwing out its register of pupils after successful trials using face-recognition technology to check students in and out of the building.

City of Ely Community College has installed the Face Register system made by Northampton firm Aurora. It uses an infrared scanner to identify pupils as they arrive and compares the data against the pre-registered faces.

Time saver

While it might all sound unnecessarily high-tech, the Face Register actually has a practical use – it saves the member of staff usually assigned to role-taking up to 90 minutes a day.

School Principal Richard Barker explained why this matters: "With this new registration technology, we are hoping to free up our teachers' time and allow them to spend it on what they are meant to be doing, which is teaching."

Ready reckoner

The method has other fringe benefits too, such as providing a simple way of seeing who should be in the building after an incident such as a fire or an accident requiring evacuation.