School Meals

Before students can access the canteen, parents must first set up an account on www.parentpay.co.uk. If you have not been given a code to set up the account, please email admin@barnsley-academy.org.  

Once the account has been created, funds can be added via a credit or debit card. We currently do not accept cash payments.

We use biometric technology for our cashless catering system.  This is a convenient method for registration and increases efficiency with serving food. Queuing times have been halved, enabling young people to access our facilities more quickly.  The process of obtaining lunch is easier for students entitled to a free school meal and generally, as lunches can be paid for in advance at the start of the school day/week, your child also has the benefit of not having to worry about losing money throughout the morning. 

Students use their finger to pay for items in the canteen. Please note that the finger scan is not stored, the fingerprint merely creates a code which allows access to the account. We do not store the fingerprint anywhere.

If a student has not yet had their finger scanned, they can visit the IT department to have this done.

In compliance with the Protection of Freedom Act 2012, we require parental consent, before your child joins the academy in year 7, to your child being registered onto the Live Register system using their fingerprint.

We are a cashless academy and Parent Pay is the only accepted method of payment.

ParentPay is easy to use and will offer you the freedom to make online payments whenever and where ever you like, safe in the knowledge that the technology uses the highest internet security available and that funds reach school safely.

For ParentPay you will have a secure online account, which you will access by using your unique username and password. Once you activate your account using the activation details below, you will be prompted to create your own username and password which you much keep safe for future use.

If you have two or more children at the school, you only need to activate one account as your ‘main account’ and then add your other children via the add a child tab on the home page.

To activate your account please login to www.parentpay.com, go to the account login area on the homepage and enter the username and password you have received previously.

Once you have activated your account, you can make online payments straight away and ParentPay holds an electronic record of your payments to view at a later date. Although ParentPay will be our preferred method of payment you can still continue to make payments by cash or cheque if necessary.

If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the academy. Your support in using ParentPay will help the academy enormously.

If students do not have enough funds on their account they can visit our reception to obtain a lunch slip. We will then request that this balance is repaid as a matter of urgency, by topping up ParentPay.

If a student has outstanding debt we will not issue slips until this debt is paid.

Registering for free school meals can help the Academy - If your child is eligible for free school meals, it's worth registering them even if they're not going to have the school lunch This is because schools receive a 'pupil premium' - an extra payment for each eligible child which they can spend on useful services. 

Entitlement to Free School Meals (FSM) is subject to local authority approval (based on current legislation). The FSM allowance covers the cost of a standard meal and is only available at lunchtime. Additional funds should be added if your child wishes to purchase other items.  

Further information, and how to apply, for Free School Meals can found on the Barnsley Council website (click here) or to fill in the application for free school meals.

ParentPay is also used for school trips so it's always advisable to setup a ParentPay account for your child.

Provider: The catering service at Barnsley Academy is provided by Taylor Shaw.   

Taylor Shaw is one of the UK's leading specialist caterers in the education sector.

We operate throughout the UK, providing freshly prepared food that contributes to the wellbeing of young people in their learning environment. Our menus are modern and exciting and served by caring, skilful people.

We work in:

Primary school catering
Secondary school catering
College catering

providing excellent, healthy food services that make a difference to our young customers and deliver sustainable value to budget holders.

As an Elior company, Taylor Shaw is backed by world class resources.

Elior, one of the major international contract food organisations, operates in 15 countries and has 120,000 employees who serve 4.4 million customers every day in 23,000 sites.

Catering Information: Children and young people need the right balance of food and nutrients to grow and develop. A healthy nutritious lunch gives students the energy to concentrate in class and cope with the demands of the day. Our catering service provides a variety of healthy food at breakfast, break time and lunch. These refreshment times also provide our students with the opportunity to develop social skills whilst enjoying eating with other students.

Good Food from Good Souces: We take great care to buy our food from the best producers and suppliers. Suppliers undergo a vetting process which is designed to ensure high standards of quality, health and safety and food safety are met.

We are committed to sourcing food regionally and locally wherever possible and we give preference to fresh ingredients in season. Both measures enable us to make the most of British food and also minimise the energy used in its production, transport and refrigeration.

Focussed on Nutrition: Taylor Shaw’s commitment to health and wellbeing is a vital part of our company’s approach to corporate responsibility and it goes beyond regulatory requirements. The desire to make a real contribution to healthy eating is deeply ingrained in our business, right through our operations, from training and development for our staff to the food we buy, the recipes we create and how we cook our food.