Whole class teacher gifts

[NowWhatt]

I’m just wondering how common it is to do a whole class gift?

in my multi academy trust we’re not allowed to accept gifts over £30 so would have to politely decline the “class gift” if it was over this amount.

for those of you who have done a whole class gift did you check the schools policy first?

YABU - we do a whole class gift
YANBU - individual gifts only

Oh dear we did a whole class collection and both teachers (children in 2 years) got a voucher. One class both teacher and TA got a £200 voucher each. Other class the teacher got a £250 voucher (no TA). Village primary school and not an academy so hopefully okay. We did individual cards too.

Male workforce!

No, but my last MAT, we had to notify HR if we got a gift over £50. Didn't have to refuse any though.

TotallyTireddd
(If I was a teacher, I'd prefer Billy's half eaten apple and a home made picture from Jemima 😀 but that's just me!)

I once let my son pick out the present and he got her a tub of haribo. He told her he'd picked them himself and was thrilled the teacher said they were her favourite sweets and she'd be eating them with a movie that evening. He went on about it for days 😅

That's such a shame you have to refuse gifts when all the parents want to do is say thank you! We are a multi Academy trust too and I asked the teachers what they wanted and we have pooled together and I bought a £200 voucher for the teacher and nearly £100 for the TA. And it's always been accepted since reception (now in year 2)

Not at my DC's academy. We do a joint gift of vouchers every year. Who wants £5 crap gifts x 30?
Both teacher are up to about £250 atm, we always give either Amazon or Love4all vouchers, flowers and a nice card.

My kids are at an LEA school and class collections are the norm. The card which goes with the gift is sign from ‘all of class x’ even if not everyone donates to the collection.

We split the pot so TAs etc get a voucher too. Never pressure anyone to chip in, they're welcome to do their own thing, or nothing! Don't think teachers expect anything but i feel I'd rather get a cheap and cheerful thing like biscuits or donate to a big voucher, rather than an expensive but useless thing!

Caravanvirgin That's lovely, there's times we've done class gifts and I hate seeing people left off the card, I don't think it's in the spirit of the class thanking the teacher

👍👍♥️

Crikey. I have never been in a school that does these kinds of gifts. However the amounts seem crazy.

I much prefer giving whole class gifts. Your school don’t sound very reasonable. We put in £10 for the class collection and that covers teacher and TA gifts. It’s usually a voucher and a bunch of flowers/bottle of wine, plus card with the children’s names in. It loads easier than buying individual stuff and actually works out cheaper. Plus the staff get the chance to buy something they’d really like.

I’ve just checked the policy for maintained schools (local authority) and they all seem to have the same wording for “trivial gifts” being acceptable, but not defining what constitutes a trivial gift

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

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.

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

Absolutely me too!!

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

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.

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 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.).

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 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!

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.

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.

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.