Teacher presents. End of term.

[rackhampearl]

Aibu to ask you teachers what your best and worst present experiences have been from --parents students. Also has anyone got any ideas? I'm thinking of miniature bottles of Hendricks gin and a small can of fever tree in a gift bag for the teachers heavily involved in my DDs school life and some loaf cakes for the staff room. Is that abit naff?

School staff. You can eat cake from wherever, i choose not to.

Never assume.

But you've made an assumption about the cleanliness of the baking.

Blimey. Want a list why we dont eat them?

Mould in lunchboxes
Used yogurt spoon from previous day
Said yogurt on jumper from day before.

Cleanliness doesn’t cost anything.

Never assume.

I'll leave that to you!

I am glad you are not teaching. You have no idea about child welfare and a very judgemental attitude.

Hopefully, you help the children with their lunchboxes /spoons.
Someone else could have baked the items.

Fuckinghell stop finding excuses for them.

You eat cake. We dont.

There is absolutely no need to be so unpleasant.

Perhaps a school environment is not the best place for you.

I asked another member of staff to find out DS2's teacher's favourite wine. I usually just send out cards - one from the child, one from me, with a thank you message and some memories, but DS's teacher has gone over and above in the 2 years he's had her and I want to really make that point.

I hope that if you notice a child is regularly dirty or shows signs of neglect that you handle it sensitively and not in a judgemental way. I hope that you pass any concerns your safeguarding lead in case there is a bigger picture or issue that you are not aware of.
Finally I hope you help that child by tactfully cleaning their lunchbox or dirty spoon and not make them feel inferior.

Sadly, I've had my fair share of homemade cake brought in with clear cat/dog hairs on to assume anything about the cleanliness of the conditions they were baked in.

I don't eat home baked goodies usually. But obv wouldn't tell anyone in class that or bin them in front of them. The given line is usually 'Oh thanks x, I'll enjoy that with my lunch' and they it gets taken to the staff room. Some teachers do eat them, some don't.

No we send them home with said dirty spoons and boxes.🙄

I don't get the fuss on this thread either.

The op asked teachers for their favourite and least favourite gifts and ideas.

They didn't ask whether people agreed with gifts for teachers or not.

If you don't agree, don't give gifts.

Anyone who works in a primary school swiftly develops an immune system of iron, frankly, so a few less than hygienic baked goods would barely trouble most of us!

Last year I bought my kids teachers personalised ‘good work’ ink stamps, they seemed to go down well and my kids have enjoyed seeing them used in their workbooks.

@redspider1 Why are you assuming that people won't appropriately deal with a child who is regularly dirty and shows signs of neglect just because they won't eat cake brought in by them?

I was given lovely handmade fairy cakes by a child with a label on saying 'handmade by x'.

X had spent 80% of the year with his hand down his pants. Would you have eaten those cakes?

Teacher and new parent here.
A card with a heartfelt message in is always so special and one to keep.
I used to have lots of lovely gifts-flowers, perfume, wine, chocs, candles..I liked everything and appreciated the thought

I'm a TA, I love the cards that have an actual message in and maybe something specific I helped a child with. The presents I absolutely loved were the ones that were personal,not expensive but little things that either the child or the parents picked up I liked/use a lot. I appreciate all of them though and they do make me smile.

And I've eaten stuff from kids even when other staff said they wouldn't touch it or I knew there were severe issues at home. They weren't bad, I have a strong stomach and it made the kid's day.

I had a lad in my form who was all sorts of CP but he loved cooking, and baking in particular. He was quite hard to get on with but one day one of the 'cool girls' took him up on his offer of trying the cakes he'd made earlier in the day, in front of the form (rules are meant to be bent!) and when it was declared 'these are actually pretty decent' it made a huge difference to how he was accepted in school.

Little to do with the thread but it reminded me. I'll always eat cake from students, which is invariably what they bring in. It's cake, it's been cooked, I'm lucky to not be allergic to anything so I'll take my chances.

I had a fab 'best teacher' notepad once. If your children want to buy something 'best teacher' style go for something that will be used up - like a notebook, pen, etc!

I often go for coffee card, vouchers for something I know they will like, if I know the person well enough I might go for something more personal.

In years where we haven’t had much money to spare I’ve bought the tiny boxes of Lindt chocolate balls at £1 a box. Coupled with a little card made by each child to their teacher I’ve thought it was a nice touch. DH worried it might look a bit tight but with 3DC with about 3 key staff per class it was what we could afford.

I think they were all received well. The good thing about such a small box of chocolates is you don’t need to share them .

When DS left in year 6 it was agreed by the majority to donate £10 per child. This covered the teacher, TA, drama teacher, office staff, caretaker, dinner ladies, PE teacher and the Head as it was a goodbye present. 25 out of 30 donated and we included all 30 children on the card and all were involved in presenting the gifts at the leaver’s assembly.

I think no child should be left out of giving or signing a class gift or card if their parent hasn’t donated for whatever reason.

I remembered my sons teacher went to slimming world so at Christmas we got her and the TA a pair of socks each and she said she liked them lol. Were doing a collection for them at the end of the year for vouchers, much easier! I hate buying people things they don't want/ need/ won't use!

I certainly wouldn't give gin (or any spirits), and not even wine to someone in the capacity of my child's teacher, not actually a friend. Rather than give something that they'll end up re-gifting, just do an Amazon gift card so they can get something they want. And if you're anti-Amazon, some other wide-ranging gift card. Please not alcohol, nor food, nor anything ornamental, or twee. They really don't need a present at all, a card is enough.