Catering

We provide nutritionally balanced food and offer a varied menu, tailoring our menus to the students’ needs.  Menu options are discussed with our students. Meals are prepared using fresh ingredients daily. Our three weekly lunch menu cycle includes:

• meat or fish
• vegetarian choices
• salad bar
• variety of desserts both hot and chilled

MenusCatering Tariffs 2024-2025

A full and varied menu is available from our Dining Hall with a breakfast service before school, break time and lunchtime service.  There is a variety of food offered every day, ranging from sandwiches to a hot cooked meal.  A meal deal is offered which includes a variety of main courses, the pudding of the day or fruit and a drink.  Tabor Academy operates a biometric cashless catering system and students will be instructed on how to use this on their Induction Days in June.

As your children spend much of their time in school, they need nutritious food for long-term good health. A healthy, balanced diet also helps your child learn in the classroom and leads to improved educational outcomes.

According to the World Health Organisation, nearly one-fifth of the world’s children and youth are overweight or obese. In the Uk, we are seeing a steady increase of overweight children. We need to start raising awareness of this issue when children are young so that they will learn to eat healthy very early on because habits are set in childhood. They are capable of understanding the effects of food on the body and make smart choices about nutritious foods.

Click here to go to the World Health Organisation websiteHere at Tabor, we aim to support students in making healthy choices. Students on free school meals in years 7 – 11 are strongly encouraged to take the main meal of the day, many Sixth Form students choose to do the same. Meals are freshly cooked each day using seasonal ingredients offering a varied menu of family favourites along with one-off days where students are encouraged to try something new.

Cashless Catering

We have a biometric cashless system for the catering service which has significantly reduced the time taken to pay for meals. When a student has chosen their food they will scan their finger at the till point and the value of their food will be deducted from their account balance.

The student’s fingerprint itself is not stored by the computer system and cannot be used for identification purposes. During the account creation, the system uses an image of the fingerprint to create a mathematical algorithm and then discards the finger-print; only the numbers remain and these cannot be reinterpreted back into a fingerprint image.

Students will need to top-up their account using ParentPay which allows you to top-up your child’s account using a credit/debit card through a secure website.

Click here to go to ParentPayStudents who receive free Academy meals will receive their allowance (as a credit to their account) at the start of the day and will be able to spend it at break and/or lunchtime. Any of the allowances that is not spent will be lost at the end of the day. Students are also able to top-up their account if they wish to spend more than the free Academy meal allowance, but the Academy meal allowance will be used first.

To apply for free Academy meals via the Essex County Council website please:

Click here to go to Essex.gov.ukTelephone: 0845 603 2200

About our Caterers

The catering service is provided by Harrison Catering Services. Since its founding in 1994, Harrison has always been about quality fresh food prepared on-site and served by people who love what they do. Over 100 clients across the UK enjoy a Harrison food service, with more than 100,000 meals being served each day by approximately 2,000 staff across more than 270 locations.

Harrison understands that what children eat affects their health and their ability to learn and perform in the classroom. At Tabor, our catering team provides nutritious, balanced meals, and we work to educate the pupils on how to make healthier food choices. Our goal is to instil a love and understanding of fresh, healthy food at a young age that will positively influence them throughout life.

All Harrison staff receive training in how to prepare and serve healthier food through the company’s bespoke Eat Well Live Well© training programme.

Our catering team at Tabor works with the school council to tailor menus to the tastes and preferences of the pupils. We introduce further interest and excitement to our menus through themed lunches ranging from holidays like Easter and Christmas to cuisines from around the world, tying these into the school curriculum whenever possible.

GDPR

A new set of regulations comes into force on 25 May 2018 called the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). This is an important piece of legislation that is designed to provide greater protection for individuals when their personal data is being processed or stored.

In the course of providing school meals to pupils and staff, there is a need for the school to share relevant personal data with the caterer, Harrison Catering Services Ltd, including a pupil’s name, class and dietary requirements. This data sharing represents a legitimate interest in terms of the GDPR  and we can confirm that Harrison Catering Services is required to comply with the new regulations in the processing of the personal data.