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Attendance by face recognition

In the period, the teacher's own phone recognises the class, one by one or in a class photo. It ticks them present for the teacher to check. Only with a parent's consent, enrolled by the office, and no photo is kept.

PLANSScale only

Built; its tests are written and not yet run, and it has not yet run on a real phone. The Campus app is not in the app stores yet. We try it with you in one class before go-live.

Compare plans How it works

Why it matters

Calling 40 names takes the first five minutes of every period, and a tired teacher still ticks a child who left after lunch. The teacher's own phone does the roll call in a minute, from one photo of the class or each child looking at the phone. The teacher stays in charge: the phone only ticks, and the teacher checks and saves. Parents decide for their child in the Campus app or on paper, the office enrols the face, and no photo is ever kept. A school can start with one class and keep the usual register for everyone else.

The problem it solves

The roll call takes five minutes of every period, eight times a day.
A child who left after lunch is still ticked present because the teacher marked from memory.
Parents worry about a school keeping photos of their children on a server.
Face devices on the wall cost money, need wiring, and say nothing about a single period.

How it works

The school publishes the consent notice. Parents give consent for their child in the Campus app, or sign the paper form that the office records.
The office enrols each child with consent on the staff phone: three to five photos, straight and slightly to each side, with a blink. Only a list of numbers made from the face is kept.
In the period, the teacher opens the register. The card says how many students can be recognised, for example 24 of 32.
By face: each child looks at the phone and blinks, the name appears with Recognised, and the next child steps up.
Class photo: the teacher takes one photo of the whole class with the back camera, up to three for a big room. Each face is compared with this class only.
The recognised students are ticked present. The teacher checks the list, unticks a wrong name, marks the rest, and saves the register as always.
When the teacher leaves the register, the phone forgets the class's faces.

Everything it does

Consent

Nobody is enrolled without consent
A student under 18 is a minor: the father, mother or guardian decides, in the app or on paper
A student without a birth date counts as a minor unless the office ticks Consents Themself
Paper consent: Record Paper Consent on the student's Face Recognition tab, with the notice version and the scan of the signed form
Consent status: Given, Not given, Asked or Withdrawn, with who gave it
Saying no changes nothing else: the teacher takes that child's attendance as before

Enrolling

Only by the Face Recognition Office on the staff view of the app, never in the browser, and never their own face
Three to five photos with a blink; a photo is refused when too dark, too far or with two faces
A warning when the face looks like a student already enrolled, such as a twin
Enrol again when a young child's look has changed a lot

Taking attendance

Only for today's open periods of the teacher's own timetable
By face: one child at a time, with a blink seen within 3 seconds
Class photo: no blink needed, the teacher is in the room; up to three photos, a child found twice counts once
The result: Found in the photos with the match per cent, Not found, and Faces not recognised
Too small, dark or blurred faces are not used
Mark the not recognised absent in one tap, or one by one
The register line shows Seen by Face; the back office has a Seen by Face filter
A face never marks a child absent, and never saves the register on its own

What is kept

Kept: the face template (a list of 128 numbers), the consent with its notice version, and a log of each recognition
Not kept: any photo, not even the class photo; photos stay in the phone's memory only while they are compared
Nobody can see or download a template, not even the administrator
The phone finds faces with an on-device library; the picture never leaves the phone

Teachers' phones

Each teacher's own phone becomes a face device the first time it is used, one per teacher and school
It holds only the faces of the class being taken, only while that period is open
Block a lost phone in Attendances > Face Attendance Phones: it stops at once and wipes the faces at its next contact
A phone that has not synced for 7 days deletes the faces it holds

Withdrawing and leaving

A parent withdraws in the app at any time; the face is deleted at once
Remove Face Data deletes the face and keeps the consent, before enrolling again
When a student leaves and is archived, the consent ends and the face is deleted, unless another SmartMy product still holds a consent
Delete Unused Faces after a number of months: off to start with

Who uses it

ParentGives or withdraws consent for each child in the Campus app, or signs the paper form, and sees when the face was recognised.

Face Recognition OfficeRecords paper consents, enrols faces, removes face data and blocks lost phones. The principal has this role.

TeacherTakes the register By face or with a Class photo, checks the ticks and saves.

AdministratorKeeps the consent notice and the face settings.

Where you use it

The Campus app, staff view: Classes > Attendance (By face, Class photo) and Desk > Face enrolment
The Campus app for parents: School > Face recognition, shown only when the school uses it
Web: Face Recognition (consents, notices, settings, Match Log) and Attendances > Face Attendance Phones
Not in the browser: faces are enrolled and recognised only in the app
Not on a wall device: the teacher's own phone is the device

What you control

Settings

Consent notice: Face recognition for class attendance comes ready; add your office's contact
Delete Unused Faces: 0 months (never) to start with
Match Log kept: 0 months (forever) to start with
Devices Out of Sync: 7 days, then the phone deletes its faces
Device Not Synced: managers told after 3 days
Many Failed Matches: managers told at 10 in an hour

Notifications

Face Consent Asked, Given and Withdrawn: to the parents, the student and the face managers, in the app, by push or by email
Face Enrolled and Face Removed: to the parents or the student
Face Device Not Synced and Many Failed Face Matches: to the face managers
All are transactional and cannot be switched off, only a channel

Works with

SmartMy Hostel and FeastOne face per student serves every SmartMy product the parent consented to, such as the hostel gate or the mess counter. Each use has its own consent.

Questions

Does the school keep photos of our children?

No. Photos stay in the phone's memory only while the face is compared, then they are dropped. What is kept is a list of 128 numbers made from the face, which nobody can view or download.

What if a parent says no?

Nothing changes for that child. The teacher marks them by hand in the same register. Consent can be given or withdrawn at any time in the app.

Can a face mark a child absent?

No. A face only ticks a child present. The teacher checks the list, marks the rest and saves, and the saved register is the attendance.

Do we need to buy face devices?

No. Each teacher's own phone with the Campus app is the device, and only for the class being taken.

Will it work in a class of 45?

Take up to three photos, one part of the room each. Children in the back rows of a big room may need a photo from closer. Try it in your own classroom first.

What if a teacher loses the phone?

The office blocks it under Face Attendance Phones. It stops at once and wipes the faces at its next contact, and it holds only one class's faces anyway.

Related features

ATTENDANCE AND LEAVEClass attendance, and attendance for parentsTeachers mark each period's register on the web or on their phone, starting from all present. Parents see the percentage, every absence and the figures by subject, and are told the same day when their child is absent.APPS AND PORTALCampus app for parents and studentsOne app on Android and iPhone for parents and students: attendance, timetable, homework, results, notices, leave, meetings, fees and chat with teachers. A parent signs in once and switches between all their children, even in different schools of your group.APPS AND PORTALTeachers' appThe staff view of the Campus app puts a teacher's day on the phone. Today's periods and registers, homework, leave requests, parent meetings and chat with families are there, and each teacher sees only the pages their role allows.ADMISSIONS AND STUDENT RECORDSStudent records, parents and documentsOne record per student with the father, mother and guardian, their contacts and their login. The papers the school holds, from the birth certificate to the previous school's TC, are kept with numbers, dates, scans and where the original lies.TIMETABLE, HOMEWORK, NOTICESTimetable, holidays and lesson plansSet the periods of the day, the holidays and the weekly timetable once. Teachers, parents and students see the same week. Each day's class sessions and registers are made from it, and a teacher can tie a lesson plan to a period.

See your own school year run in it.

Tell us how many students you have, which classes you run and how you collect fees today. We will show you SmartMy School set up that way.

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