Whole class teacher gifts

I do my own thing, partly because I don’t agree with the split (usually around £300 for teacher and £25 for TA) but mostly because I do it for dd as much as the teachers. It’s important to me that she is involved in choosing the gift, making a card and thanking her teacher and TA and understanding what she is thanking them for and why.

Omg that’s brutal 🫣

It’s all got so ridiculous, I think in that case I would buy 3 smaller tins of biscuits/chocolates.

what a minefield

Why not divide the amount of the whole class gift by the number of children in the class and accept the gift?

I've usually received less than the teacher as the TA. Some children only buy for the teacher- many give a larger gift for the teacher. This year I've been in the class with another TA and it's been a bit of a good cop/bad cop situation; several children have bought gifts for the other TA and not me!

i wasn’t asked to do a whole class gift, but my girls are only in nursery. I got 2 tins of Cartwright & Butler biscuits to share. There’s a number of teachers/assistants so I would feel very bad buying a present for just one person

I'm a teaching assistant and I sort a present from the whole class every year. Usually, it will be a card they've all signed, or a poster/picture they've all contributed to somehow. That way no-one is left in the position of not having given anything.

We do whole class and I love it - usually small personal thing, consumable (that we know they like) and majority in vouchers. We give to an anonymous site and the message on WhatsApp always references that people may not be in a position to give, but the present is from all the children in the class.

For context my eldest went to 3 parties last weekend and the presents for 6 kids plus cards came to more than I spent on teachers.

Surprised how many give less to TAs, we’ve always split equally.

Whole class gifts here and quite big too

We always do a whole class gift. Teachers get £100 each ( usually 2 per class) and the TA's about £70

What a silly policy! Your school needs a serious policy change considering that £30 is very small amount. I'm a TA and the class will often give a joint gift- last year they gave me a £70 voucher.

We generally do a whole class gift and I think the whole thing is handled really well. Someone posts their details on the class WhatsApp and you give whatever amount you want (or nothing). No pressure to contribute but most people do because it's easier and the recipients get a better present. Gift ideas are discussed on the group- usually a small more personal present and then the majority on vouchers. This year ds had 2 job share teachers and a TA, I was able to give £10 to the collection but couldn't have bought each really even a token gift for that amount. I always get ds to write his own card and if I feel the teacher has done a great job I'll write one too.

I disagree it's about it being a mostly female profession. I think it's about the personal relationship with you and your child. If that has been a positive it's very natural to want to thank someone in a way you wouldn't thank, say, your accountant.

Incidentally the school used to have a ceiling amount and the parents would work round it by buying two £50 vouchers from 15 kids each instead of one £100 one. I think the school realised it was futile as the rule has now been dropped!

How would you know if it’s over £30 or not?

And therein lies the difficulty.
I'd give away the haribo but the chocolates would be fine - I don't want ten boxes of them though.
Whole class gifts are much more practical.

Whole class gifts at my children school. I arranged the nursery present this year, we got £200 much better than buying silly cheaper gifts in my opinion.

We do whole class gifts (well it's optional to contribute and you can do your own thing if you want but it's open to anyone who wants to chip in) and the school is fine with it.

We do whole class gifts at my kids primary. There’s 6 staff members in the foundation unit, instead of spending £60 on tat we all out £20 in and got flowers, prosecco , chocolates and a voucher each. Everyone got equal because the TA’s don’t deserve less than the teacher.

A shame that your kids school don’t allow them! It would be much easier and more cost effective for everyone!

Four dc and our primary always do a class collection for teacher and TA's.
My two eldest are at secondary and don't bother say it's embarrassing but eldest did get her form tutor a voucher when she finished year 11 and year 13.
Average amount collected is usually between £300 and £400 so a decent amount for the teacher/TA.

We had this recently (I'm a governor at a MAT) and we challenged the policy with the Trust as governors and refused to adopt it for our school for exactly this reason.

I suspect it's a policy that in practice wouldn't be enforced in most schools (but agree then it shouldn't be a policy in the first place.).

So they'd rather you got 30 my favourite teacher mugs which will end up in landfill or the charity shop eventually rather than a £100 M&S voucher or similar which you can use to treat yourself, or put towards groceries in this cost of living crisis! Seems daft to me!

We do whole class gifts: £200 John Lewis voucher and a hamper of goodies each for teacher and TA. Gifting is quite common at our school, so suspect there isn’t a policy forbidding it.

Sorry hit enter too soon, yes, fancy chocolates are generally horrible, sometimes you're lucky but you never lose out with Haribo!!

fuckityfuckityfuckfuck
I would love a tub of haribo as a gift! Way better than fancy chocolates!

Absolutely me too!!

We do a whole class gift and always have done.

No pressure to join in and some people don’t or do their own thing. The lady who does the gift each year does and amazing job and wraps things beautifully. Usually a voucher and then some bits like flowers and nice socks. And a card with each child named. This year the card for the TA has a little “why Mrs X is wonderful” from each child as she’s been with them since reception and this their last year

We do the teacher, TA and the school caretaker because he’s a legend.

I would love a tub of haribo as a gift! Way better than fancy chocolates!