To email the teacher

[Princesspollyyy]

my daughters (secondary school GCSE year) teacher is really good, very dedicated and committed and just an excellent teacher and lovely person. Would it be weird to send her an email thanking her for all her hard work and wishing her a lovely Christmas?

I can’t see any teacher thinking this! An email, preferably copied to the Headteacher, is always well received. Especially at the end of a long term.

An in box of positivity. How fabulous would that be at the end of term. Bring it on.

Oh you old grump

Absolutely. When my DD finished at tech college to go to Uni I wrote a similar email to the course director thanking them for all the support, care, and unending patience they had shown her (AUDHD, 2x drop out of 6th form so she was challenging). On the ‘celebration’ day, every one of the teachers who’d worked with her came pup to me to thank me for the email, as the director had clearly shared it. It had apparently made their day to be acknowledged.

They are amazing - wish I could have said or done more.

Thanks for replies !!

Update - the email has been sent!!!

@LemaxObsessive It’s a shame you have this point of view, however there’s just no way the teacher would think I was trying to bribe her.. most of my daughters work has been already done, and shes predicted an A, so there’s nothing the teacher could do now to change anything.

This teacher just gives everything she has, in a challenging profession… she is there for the pupils no matter what, even the ones that don’t want to learn. She really cares. I just wanted her to know that it hasn’t gone unnoticed, and it is appreciated. It’s just a simple thank you.

I write an email at the end of the school year to teachers who have been particularly supportive of my DD thanking them. I cc in the headteacher too. She's struggled at secondary and a few teachers have been above and beyond over the years to support her so I always like to acknowledge it. It's her final year and her head of year has been exceptional so was planning to have a bunch of flowers delivered too after GCSEs

Can you imagine if every parent sent an email? His/Her inbox would be full!

And how wonderful would that be? I'm sure every teacher would be so happy to know that all the parents thought they were doing a great job. Even if it means a full email inbox!

I'm a cub leader, we get the (very) occasional gift at Christmas - this year it was one small box of chocolates from one child, out of a group of 30 kids. But we also got a card written by one of the children who is moving on, thanking us, as saying how much they've loved their time at cubs. That card means the world to us.

That’s wonderful. Im definitely going to go with the flowers after GCSEs too flowers
💐

Yes! I’m a secondary school teacher and have a folder where I keep emails from parents and students. I cherish these. I’ve also had a couple sent to the Head and it’s a nice acknowledgment.

I think we live in a world where not enough people thank others.

I do a voluntary role which I love and part of which involves thanking people when they make an extra effort It is such a pleasure to write and send these messages and I know that it gives pleasure to the recipients.

I say good on you OP. It is a little sad though that you felt you should ask Mumsnet whether it was ok to do so. It shouldn’t be the exception to what normally happens. We should just make a point of thanking people more, more of the time.

I think the reason I felt I had to ask, is because I over think everything, and just couldn’t decide if it was an ‘ok’ thing to do or not.

I do agree though, that people should thank others much more x

It isn’t sucking up and it isn’t bribery. It’s just a lovely gesture of thanks. For those nay sayers, do you never thank people for a job well done?

Oh the horror of having multiple emails thanking and complimenting you!

You arent actually being serious are you?

It is a lovely thing to do. It isn’t sucking up and it will make the teacher feel very happy.

For future reference saying kind words to anyone is never a bad thing, no need to ask for permission

As a teacher, I would love this. I wouldn’t see it as you sucking up at all. I’d just feel so grateful. And even more so if you cc’d the Head in!!

I work in a secondary (not a teacher) and I have been really struggling these past few weeks with negativity and tiredness. A Year 7 who I see every day but have not really conversed with brought me a handmade card thanking me for my kindness (all I have done is welcome her to sit quietly). It has really cheered me up and boosted my mood. Please send the email.

It is so strange isn't it that for primary school teachers everyone is buying gifts and somehow secondary is different.

I have emailed in to thank teachers for their incredible support and I always do it through the main office to the head basically saying can my thanks be passed on to Teacher's Name so they see it. At the end of year 11 I wrote in to the head as a general thank you for being an amazing school from teachers to pastoral to head of year. Then I listed out a few notable mentions and did get replies from them too.

When Ds started year 7 he came in from a non-feeder school so there were extra things put on for those who knew no one. Throughout year 7 he had some minor issues with bullying, different kids doing it and each time the HOY dealt with it. Ds went to his office at the end of the year and the HOY rang me to say that he had had a really shit couple of weeks and when Ds knocked he was thinking what now? Turns out Ds gave him a lovely card to say thank you for making the transition easier, that he knew he could turn to him when he needed to and it would all be dealt with. He admitted that he opened the card in front of my son and nearly burst into tears. All year he deals with parents defending their violent or disruptive child and it is nice to actually be thanked once in a while.

So I say definitely say thank you if you want to.

Absolutely 100% do it!

My DC's HT (Secondary) issued a letter a few months ago. It was regarding a small minority of parents who were rude / abusive / insulting towards members of staff, asking them to refrain from such behaviour, and that it would not be tolerated.

It really saddened me to read this letter, so I emailed school, basically saying how awful it was for staff members being treated like this, and I thanked them for everything they had done for my 3 DC and I, as a parent, really appreciated the job they do.

Within the hour (it was evening when I sent the email), the HT rang me, saying how lovely it was to receive this email, and she would be reading it out to all the staff the following morning.

Just saying "Thank you" goes a long way IMHO.

Good idea. Don’t forget to copy it to the Head!

As a retired teacher, I would have been really pleased to receive such a message. And I've no idea how it might lead to the child 'getting ahead in some way' - what do you imagine the teacher might do?

You're completely wrong.

That would be a lovely thing to do. I would include a line saying that you do not expect any reply because she is on holiday. My dcs’ school have a reply policy that requires staff to respond to a parent email within 24h. Definitely cc the Head.

There is a difference between crawling and appreciation.

That would be great and please cc the head teacher or head of dept. Always so lovely to get a thank you.

Please do that. It will be much appreciated.