Teachers presents - class gift

[angsanana]

I'm organising the year 5 Xmas present for staff this year. 2 teachers, 1 LSA, 1, one-to-one. When I've done this in the past the pot is usually 250-400 (our school tend not to ask a set amount there is a real mix of affluence). I've reminded a couple of times and Im at £115 between around 10 families.

WIBU to buy the gifts and put "love from Tom, bob, Kirsty etc" rather than "love from year 5"? In the past I've put as a class gift but the majority have contributed.

What's the consensus here?

@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...

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

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.

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.

This

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

"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.

This is happening with my daughters new reception class now. I don’t mind collections for the teacher, and actually I can afford it. But it makes me cringe when they ask for set amounts because I know there are people that can’t afford it but might be happy to contribute a smaller amount. If somebody wanted to give 50p I would happily put that child’s name on a card. But apparently it’s “fair” to agree a set amount and Iv been very much ignored. For people with more than one child at school it can really add up. I’m just doing a card from my little ones to their teachers

As a teacher the last thing we ever wanted was gifts and certainly not organised ones - a home nmade card, or letter or something made by a child was always appreciated at the end of the year, but people don't need gifts for doing their jobs ( even though teachers always go far beyond what's in their job description)
Other public sector workers don't get gifts, so why single out teachers? - not sure about private companies - and as for assuming that because it's a well off area that everyone in that area can find a spare £5-20 to chip in - that's just being out of touch with reality

I wonder why some schools continue with collections when teachers keep saying it’s the cards they appreciate and keep?

Have seen many times from teachers that they don't want this. That parents think it is ok to exclude some children is possibly why and as a parent that was never included in the messages the popular parent click is just so tired.

If I had put to it I’d be pretty annoyed if everyone’s names was on it. If they want to be on it then contribute ! Even if it’s a few pounds

If I had put to it I’d be pretty annoyed if everyone’s names was on it. If they want to be on it then contribute ! Even if it’s a few pounds

Why can’t parents just decide themselves if they want to get their teacher(s) a gift or even just a card?! I don’t understand why parents have to be forced to do it as a group, making it awkward. If you get 100 box of chocolates so be it - it’s the sentiment that counts. Next thing we know we’ll all be forced into combined gifts for the postman, bin men. It’s mad! Just let people do what they want.

My children at primary school enjoyed taking in their own gifts for the teacher and TA .