If you're a teacher, what would you want the parents to get you for Christmas?

[chickpea1982]

I'm in charge of buying a group present for my child's teacher this year. If you are a teacher, what would you want to receive? We've got a few hundred pounds to spend. I'm thinking vouchers, so she can buy herself something she actually wants. Or would it spoil it to just ask her want she wants? Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

This amount was normal too at my child's state school. Can't go wrong g with John Lewis vouchers and flowers. I would use some of the money for the TA though

Most schools have policies that they are not allowed to accept gifts over a certain amount. At my school it was £10. Sorry but I would be mortified if a parent spent more than that on me. A small gift and a lovely note would be so much more appreciated,

BTW most school teachers do not feel underpaid, under appreciated and over worked yes, not underpaid though

Lottery tickets - they can dream of escaping!

Great idea!

I think people are misunderstanding. It's not one parent spending £200 , it's one parent organising donations on behalf of the class. It's very easy to generate a collection fund on that region if people donate £5-£10 each. I don't think it's embarrassing at all. People want to convey their thanks and best wishes for a job well done. My children are state educated and this is very normal where we are either at Christmas or end of year. It does depend on a parent organising it though.

I wouldn't buy lottery tickets - seems a waste of £200 when vouchers would be a better option.

I've had 3 children at primary the last 8 years. Every single year we do a class collection £10 a child (optional) and get about £200 for the teacher which is spent on a voucher. It's not that crazy!! Totally normal here. Just because it's not done at your school doesn't mean it's insane

@ramonaquimby

I'd be annoyed if I gave £10 for teacher, TAs & someone decided to give to a random charity.

We used to give £10 & then it was split between teacher, TAs, caretaker, admin staff.

I think following have been popular - JL voucher, few bottles of whatever they drink, decent chocs, cheese board.

People happily tip a waitress, taxi driver, hairdresser for a relatively short interaction but seem to be outraged that a teacher might get a gift. It makes sense to all club together - if you spent £6.50 on teacher, £2.50 on TA and £1 on the caretaker you wouldn't get much. But a caretaker would be happy with £30 of booze & a TA would love a £50 voucher & some decent chocs.

I def feel underpaid for the job I do. You don't speak for me...!

Last year we gave DS teacher an amazon voucher and flowers from the class and she was very pleased. If I had that when I was teaching I honestly would have spent an amazon voucher on bits for my classroom and would have really appreciated it. We get John Lewis vouchers for DDs special school and they are always well received too.

Reception group rep collects for both reception classes, and ours is split between all teachers and TAs. They end up with about £50 each I think.

Goodness , that’s a huge amount.
I’d have appreciated any voucher as I was often given gifts that I couldn’t use due to allergies. And there’s only so many small teddies a teacher can take to a charity shop have in their home.

Thanks for all the responses so far. It's a state school, though in quite an affluent area. Not everyone is well off by any means. Most of the parents are contributing, so between 25 or so it all adds up! There is a TA as well, do we are going to split it between them - just didn't want to complicate the initial thread.

Definitely vouchers (although it’s a shame cash wouldn’t be ok - then it’s not tied to a massive chain store). Ignore the negative people. Why can’t we support nice gestures for others? As long as no one is forced to hand over money. Much better than lots of little bits and pieces of potential landfill.

But its probably from all 30 kids eg £10 from each which really isn't excessive.
Inflation has been very high the last few years £10 is worth now probably what £5 was worth 15 years ago would you have thought £5 excessive in 2009, 2010?

We get that much from class collections (area of very mixed incomes) and tend to split between teacher, TA (vouchers) and smaller gifts for art and pe teachers, and a box of biscuits for the staff room

I used to be a teacher before all this competitive gift-giving started. I don't get it. Teachers are just doing their job. Why not give to deserving charities instead of to well-paid professionals doing what they're paid for?

Family members who are teachers all prefer gift vouchers. One bottle of wine/box of chocolates is enjoyed, 30 becomes excessive!

We also end up with around £300 to spend, we give class teacher £100ish and rest is split amongst other staff in the school - sometimes vouchers or paying for a meal for them, something for staff room etc. One year school asked for donation of certain items for children which we spent a portion on and then bought all the staff breakfast with rest.

See, that would be wasted on me 😳 I still have a £10 one sitting in my purse from last Christmas 🤦‍♀️ The OP is talking about a couple of hundred pounds...that's a LOT of coffee!!

I'd go with a John Lewis voucher. There's so many different things she/he could buy there!

Teacher here. A whip round. That would be a cool present. A whip round to pay for a day of cover. Need a day off. Teaching is pants. Need a break.

Happy Christmas!

Why?? This is presumably collected from the whole class...far better than 25 boxes of maltesers and half a dozen 'World's Best Teacher' mugs (that will get bunged in the staffroom cupboard along with all the others!)

Oh sweet Jesus! Get over yourself.

You haven't been teaching long have you!

Do people really do this? I wouldn't be allowed to accept this and I feel a bit nauseous at the thought.

We give cash. It isn't elegant but it is useful - we put it in a card with a bottle of wine to try and be classy.

God I wouldn't want it either, I'd love an amazon voucher to spend on classroom/school supplies though!

My husband is a school caretaker.

He would definitely prefer John Lewis vouchers to £30 of booze!!