To feel sorry for all the teachers who are about to be inundated with shite gifts

Exactly. They're only taxable if they are provided as a reward for performance or over £50.
Otherwise is no different to you giving your best friend £100 as a birthday present

A card made by the child or an email saying thank you from a parent is lovely. I’ve had the most gorgeous messages over the last 20 years and those are the things I remember and appreciate the most.

If you really want to give us a gift - teach your child manners, to be a nice person and for you as a parent to not slag us off on WhatsApp.

I'm not really bothered what you think. You do realise your view is just an opinion, dont you? Which means, it's no more "right" than anyone else's.

I've got individual gifts rather than class vouchers because I won't be dictated to by the the same few mums who seem to think they run the show in our class. I also wanted gifts to come from my kids and not a generic, thoughtless voucher.

My kids will be writing lovely cards to put with their gifts and if they end up in charity shops, so be it.

Yep agreed - I think vouchers are only taxable if they are provided by an employer eg an incentive for highest sales

My classroom is stocked with toys that my children have grown out of and books I have bought.

In addition, this year I have bought all of the equipment needed for our D and T topics, two large boxes of pritt sticks, pencils, white board pens and cleaning products.

I've also purchased a bracket to fix my classroom cupboard and my own book box.

This is pretty standard as there's no money and I don't want the children to miss out.

I loved my biology teacher...He's a friend now, 30 yrs on.

Why are vouchers different to other gifts which have monetary value?

I always gratefully received gifts off children. It’s the thought and the effort that counts. But honestly, a nice note in a card made my day, far better than any gift.

Very middle class area here. Vouchers will easily get to £200. School events raise thousands.

How tragic.

That’s the thing. If my kids school were to say ‘we’ve run out, here’s an Amazon wish list’ I’d just buy half the contents for next day delivery.

That would be amazing. However in my experience, for every parent / carer who would be willing to help, there would be 10 others who would complain about schools asking for more money.

Is this really true? They are gifts, not from an employer, why would they be taxable?

4 kids in primary and each class requesting a tenner each per collection,😬 I've once again declined, and the kids are making homemade cards.

My daughter is going to miss her teacher so much that she's asked to buy a few little bits, but it's personal to the teacher what my daughter has noticed over the year, ie, her favourite biscuits that are tucked away in her drawer 🤣

We've also bought potted plants in years before and one teacher has actually showed me a photo of the plant we bought growing beautifully in her garden.

Not ours, we all contribute what we can afford and get a gift card. Last year teacher had £200- is that a shit gift? Nope.

@oakleaffy apologies then! Sarcasm hard to read on here!

In our class, the suggested donation is £10. This happens at Christmas and the end of year! I really resent it as I think it’s too much. And I am also a teacher before anyone pounces on me saying teachers deserve it - I think it’s OTT!

I always made a charity donation. Oxfam used to do a school bag voucher and I gave one on behalf of each teacher. And a letter. I think Mary's Meals do gift cards.

I've been teaching for 28 years and never declared a voucher for tax purposes and never heard of any colleagues doing this either p.

@combinationpadlock very knowledgeable actually. What are your qualifications?

@Whatevershallidowithmylife Now bribery and corruption rules are another thing and some trusts will have rules around this. But there are no rules around declaring for income tax purposes

Yeah considering teachers go over and above and buy things out of their own pockets (so no it’s not must like any other job) it would seem the best gift is to either provide classroom supplies OR club together for some vouchers which will will be a nice way to reimburse them for all the money they’ve spent on your kids classroom supplies.

Maybe each school /class should have a gift list of things the class needs and ask for parents to do that instead of a best teacher mug. Then the class can send a group homemade card.

I was being sarcastic -

Give them a card like this - it means so much more than a gift. This is why I love teaching.

That’s the thing. If my kids school were to say ‘we’ve run out, here’s an Amazon wish list’ I’d just buy half the contents for next day delivery.

but they don’t say anything and I’m not psychic!

Anyway, we bang a £15 Amazon voucher to each class teacher and TA, in a card that my kids have to write a short thank you message in.

But seriously, you are being ridiculous.

You are the one who sells all those Best Teacher mugs, aren't you

The Kestrel reminds me of this blog I read one day:
And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles. – The Bloggess

What teacher would not like getting this as a gift? The possibilities are endless. Though...gift cards are also nice. 😉