Teachers presents - class gift

"Only the organiser knows how much and who has donated, it's always been done sensitively." The downside of that is that nobody then knows if the full amount of the donations are going on the presents. We had a work collection for someone's wedding and the gifts bought seemed suspiciously cheap compared with the amount of donations made. We didn't keep records, so couldn't prove anything, but we didn't let that person do any more collections.

I am old school and I send cards to the class staff at Christmas and a bottle of wine each at the end of the year. My princess is in a special school and they have 6 class staff. In the current climate I think heads should say 'just cards' at Christmas, to take the financial pressure off people who are struggling.

Could be a variety of reasons that families haven’t contributed.

Our class does this but I let my son decide if he wants me to contribute. I don’t think teachers presents should be expected. If my son likes a teacher he will want to contribute, if we doesn’t like them we don’t.

Im not going to be two faced and complain about a teacher then contribute to their present come Christmas.

and I absolutely don’t expect my sons name to be on their card.

Id go with just the ones that contributed. Other parents may also arrange their own gifts.

We need to stop calling it a ‘class present’, it is a ‘joint present’ from some families, others might prefer to do their own present, others might not want to do a gift/card.
What I don’t get is people who don’t want to contribute but what their child’s name on the card - just why? it is easy and cheap to make your own card, why is it so important to be on the one bought by others?

I’ve only ever put the names of the children who have contributed when I have done this as a parent and when I have received it as a teacher, it’s only the names of the children who have contributed. The parents who choose not to contribute sometimes don’t agree with giving gifts to teachers or buy their own so I’m not sure why you would put everyone on as they might not want you to anyway.

Just put from year 5. The teacher isn’t going to read through the list & check who contributed anyway.

But is the mum quite well off because she is always organising this sort of scam? 🤔 maybe I am cynical but who is regulating these collections? Who makes sure that every penny that is donated goes on the gifts. Not difficult to say that £200 has been raised when actually it was £300.

There’s a cost of living crisis. Don’t be a dick.

We buy vouchers and I don’t think they’re separately named from certain kids - but the accompanying card has a message from those who contributed (as it gets sent in with the money).

So they don’t know but they also do I guess!

Youve reminded me nobody has yet brought the subject up. Oh god…

Is it actually allowed to gift such an amount. The company I work for have extremely strict rules on hospitality gifts, not sure if places have their own policies or if it is a legal thing.

Either way, the school may not allow it, although I don't work in a school. The company I work for, I would not be allowed to accept a gift of over a certain value if someone tried to gift it to me.

As a teacher, I agree. Just a homemade card/gift from the children is plenty and has much more sentiment behind it! I find it strange that it’s become this big thing and some sort of competition at times! I don’t recall getting my teachers gifts. Its certainly not an expectation from us as teachers (at least in my school it’s not). I’d rather parents save their money and get their DC something with it.

We always just sign the card from who contributed. Other people may send separate gifts in so it's clear not everyone has put into that particular pot. Nothing wrong with that.

My DCs' class WhatsApp group used to be really unpleasant about teacher gifts, vocal parents trying to force everyone to contribute £20 each and hassling repeatedly if you said you were opting out. Then during Covid the headteacher sent out an awful email that said she was banning the children from bringing in any Christmas cards or gifts at all for each other due to Covid hygiene measures but that we were all still very welcome to send in gifts for teachers. Gifts for teachers fell off a cliff then as most people stopped due to her grabby email.

Personally, I don't do gifts for teachers but I do give small gifts to all the volunteers in my DCs' lives - the Brownie leaders , the Scouts leaders, the volunteer sports coaches. Even the teens helping out as part of their Duke of Edinburgh, just something like a bag of Haribo or box of Maltesers for the teens as there's quite a few of them but they're always so appreciative to be thanked and acknowledged.

This

Your quoted amount is ridiculous OP. A nice thank you card is sufficient.

Some people get a (non-pensionable) bonus or gift at Christmas from their employer. But in most industries expensive gifts from customers or servicer users is considered bribery or corruption and is not allowed, token gifts only are allowed.

As a teacher, we don’t expect presents at all and definitely prefer the home made cards or small token gift a child chose for us. I am always really embarrassed to receive bigger presents, knowing some parents may well not have wanted to put in. Especially if it’s actually stuff you know cost a bit but you don’t even want. I have bracelets and necklaces that this is the case for. Yet I have a box with all of the hand made cards, coloured in wooden ornaments etc which I will keep as they remind me of the children.

Many people get given Christmas presents at work in numerous sectors!

@KelMum6 I think it's so contrived, basically it just becomes the norm that a gift is bought. Cards made by the children sounds really nice. How do people cope with this stuff if they are paying for all the other bells and whistles needed for school...

I personally do not contribute to teacher Xmas presents. Not through lack of money, just I don’t see why teachers get Xmas presents for doing their job, no one else does. Just personal choice

My kids are all out of primary now but we used to receive an email around this time of year specifically asking that no staff were bought gifts as they’d rather the money went to the children, and redirecting parents to the classes’ Amazon wish list if anyone wanted to get anything. They did the same at the end of the school year.

I know quite a lot of teachers - and every one of them would rather have stuff for their class / classroom than stuff bought for them. They all liked the cards though.

Why would you include a suggested amount - how would the suggested amount be calculated?

Hi, If it is just a small percentage of the year that has contributed so far I would just put a message out to parents saying….
“It seems like there is not much interest in giving a whole year gift this year, so I’m assuming people are preferring to do their own gifts. Based on this I will just sign the card from those that have contributed. If you do want to be part of the group gift then please can you contribute by xx. Suggested amount is xx but please feel free to give less or more, any amount is welcomed!”
If in the end the majority of the year do contribute then I probably would sign it off from the whole year, but if it is only still a small part of the year then just put the names down.

I would send a what’s app message asking those who have contributed to send you their message that they would like in the card so you can add their name to the card

that way you are telling people that if they don’t contribute their name won’t be added

I’m actually with you on this! It’s not that you’re trying to shame people who don’t contribute- it’s more saying that the idea hasn’t worked so those who have contributed, it can be off them and the others can sort their own out if the wish to or want to send a personalised gift.

Removed

If you can't afford anything or haven't been impressed by the teacher that's fine but I'm always pleased to give the person who looks after my children a small gift. Luckily they have had wonderful nursery staff and school teachers so far. Schools run on the goodwill of teachers - I know how many of the resources used will belong to the children of school staff and how many will have been bought by the teachers themselves rather than the school budget. At every Saturday summer fair, I've seen every member of staff there unpaid. Presumably they could use that time raising money for their own children's schools or spending time with their own family, but they do it for the benefit of my child instead. In those respects, they're not like other civil servants. I agree that a handwritten card is the best thing you can give.