A great deal goes into our meals to make sure they taste good, they’re healthy and most of all that they meet the requirements of our most demanding customers – our students!

All of our menus meet the Government’s national nutritional requirements and provide students with healthy, freshly cooked meals. Vegetarian options are available and menus can even be tailored to meet medical dietary requirements.

Nottinghamshire County Council provide our menus, and their latest main menu can be viewed here:

Tuxford Academy menu

Tuxford Academy price list

Tuxford Academy allergy and dietary requirements form

At Tuxford, students are able to buy their lunch in two locations: The Canteen, which offers hot meals and puddings, as well as sandwiches, jacket potatoes and soups, or in our Clumber Café where we offer hot and cold snacks such as paninis and sandwiches.

Paying for meals

We operate a cashless catering system called iPay, which enables students to pay for their meals using a fingerprint and offers the following benefits to parents:

  • paying for meals without having to write cheques or send cash
  • online payment system for topping up iPay account credits
  • the ability to store card details
  • simple, online customer portal
  • availability of transaction history
  • emails with payment confirmation and account updates
  • dedicated customer service team

To find out more about iPay, please visit the online payments page.

Students eligible for free school meals will have money added each day. To find out about eligibility for free school meals, please click here.

 

Post 16 refectory

Post 16 students have their own kitchen and dining facilities upstairs. They can either use iPay, or pay for their food in cash. Again, any students eligible for free school meals will have money automatically added to their iPay account each day.

Free school meals

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility has been expanded to include all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit regardless of household earnings.

Free school meals are available to pupils in receipt of, or whose parents are in receipt of, one or more of the following benefits:

  • universal credit
  • income-related employment and support allowance
  • support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • the guaranteed element of pension credit
  • Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

From September 2026, there will be two categories of benefits-based free school meals:

Targeted FSM, which continues to be based on the existing threshold, covering pupils who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less

Expanded FSM, a new category covering pupils who do not qualify for targeted FSM, but who are in households receiving Universal Credit

If you think that your child(ren) may be entitled to free school meals then you can either apply online or download a form via the Nottinghamshire County Council website here, or phone them on 0300 500 80 80.

Once your application has been approved, the council will inform the academy and we can then start providing free school meals for your child(ren). We treat all recipients with complete discretion.

We are here to help, so contact us if you have any queries or concerns you would like to discuss directly with the academy.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties, your local food bank can help. To arrange a food voucher for your family, visit Newark Foodbank or for further support contact the academy(opens in new tab) to talk to someone in confidence.