Large end of year teacher/Head teacher gifts

[Vigjilenca]

The end of academic year is upon us and PTA mums have started collecting money for end of year gifts. My son is doing Y1 and it's my second year of being shocked on the amount of money people raise for teachers at this CoE primary school. Usually, they raise the following sums converted in gift vouchers:

• Around £500 for a teacher
• £250 for TAs
• £2000 for Head teacher and assistant

This year mum are also collecting for a teacher who is leaving. I mean, I work at uni and whenever I change jobs, I get a vouchers from colleagues. I can't imagine asking students to contribute. This just feels wrong to me...

It can be very pressurised though especially if there's a school/class WhatsApp group with the Queen Bee demanding contributions. You see threads on here about it from time to time.

Difficult to say no. Of course, "no is a complete sentence" and all that and you can just mute the group and ignore the requestsdemands

That shows you have no idea what the admin staff do if you don't believe they deserve anything

That’s crazy amounts of money. I work as a teacher in a school and never heard of anything near that amount. Also, I would feel very uncomfortable with my TA getting less than me. They work so hard for just above minimum wage, I would rather the TA got more than me.

Those are crazy amounts … I’m moving to work at that school!!😂😂 A voucher is a really welcome gift , but as far as I know most schools near me average between £40-£100 collected per class if they are lucky . Anything over £50 has to be declared. £2k for the head is utterly insane - if it’s such a wealthy area why not donate to the PTA which means the money goes to support the children and school equipment?!

You don't have to contribute or you could give a small gift of your own. The gifts from children is obviously separate from a leaving present from colleagues. £500 is a huge collection. It's not normal to collect for a head teacher. TAs occasionally get a gift from 1-2 parents.

I am a teacher and I've never heard of a HT or admin staff getting gifts. Our admin assistant is excellent and take on duties above and beyond her role but doesn't get gifts.

@MmeDubois7 no monetary/collection gifts or non at all? We usually drop a box of posh biscuits or truffles or something into the office and a thank you card. Not part of the class collection, just from us. Think a few do it across the school.

Wow thats insane!

I never donated to teacher collections, just never occured to me to give any sort of "cheers for doing your job ok" cash gift. I did always take a few boxes of biscuits/chocs in for the office though.

Eek! It used to just be a little gift, not a planned big one! Sad this has happened, usually organised by someone who has no idea that teachers are honestly just over the moon for a card and don't want or expect expensive things.

A voucher is always the best gift and not a massive cost one.

Well l hope you share your biscuits and chocs with her!

@Vigjilenca . I don't understand why the headteacher does not stop this practice...

I think I know why..😂 But seriously speaking I don't know why you give such a large amount to a head teacher? Here only the teacher and the TA gets something (parents give 5-20£).

They need to be reported to the council as they can’t accept expensive gifts/money. I think it’s less than £50 and then beyond that school staff have to declare it. £1 each would be a decent voucher for the teacher.

This is insane and the teachers must surely feel embarrassed accepting such an expensive gift for merely doing the job they are paid to do. My cousins teach and have said their favourite gifts are the handmade ones, they don’t care for anything fancy and they definitely don’t want “best teacher” tat or endless chocolate as it ends up at the food bank. Just a tip.

Also can’t fathom why the head teacher gets anything. Do you even interact much with the head? I see my DC’s head teacher about 3 times a year at school events. They’re paid enough!

Wow. Teachers, along with binmen, council workers etc aren’t allowed to accept gifts round here. Even the ‘Apple for teacher’ type gift is banned.
And reading the op, just as well. That’s ridiculous