Amazing end-of-year present for a primary school teacher

[Bonsoir]

We are looking for inspiration for DD's class teacher, who is unanimously seen as a star. Collective gift, we will raise lots of money. We don't want to give vouchers. What do teachers want?

Word, I would hate to work in your school.

I would know that everyone had contributed what, to me, seems a ridiculous amount of money (that's what I spend on close family birthdays) and. more importantly, they did it before I had even started to teach their children properly.

So it's not a sign of deep appreciation. It isn't the same as a hug or a 'thank you' or a mis-spelt card telling me that I'm the best teacher ever. It's...well, a bit yuck. A bit commercial and impersonal. A bit 'we have money and you don't so we thought we'd give you something that costs a lot'.

I am a professional. I do my job to enable children to make the best progress that they possibly can. If I earn their liking or respect in the meantime, so much the better. If I earn a grateful smile from their parents - well, that's not who I do it for. I do it for the children, and because I believe it's important, which is why those presents that come directly from the child's heart are the most precious.

If she's really exceptional, it's nice to show you appreciate the effort by doing something special. I wouldn't want the weekend personally as I don't like presents that have to be organised by me. I like the camping chairs thing actually! If somebody gave me funky deckchairs or something I'd love it! We often give the teachers FNAC vouchers here - there are 2 teachers per class, and we easily get together 250 euros for each if they're popular teachers. Not everyone donates and the teachers don't know who did. I don't if I haven't found the teacher much good. I agree that vouchers are boring though, generally speaking.

It's nice to give presents for special things. When ds2 was a tiny baby he got a virus and had to go to hospital for a week. He was discharged on 24th December! The staff on the ward were so lovely and reassuring - the paeds and nurses - that we sent them a crate of Veuve Cliquot afterwards as a thank you/Christmas present. It felt very normal to me to do this. They were delighted so far as I could tell from the phone call of thanks, but I think also astonished! I'm glad we did it. They were great.

If a teacher is fabulous it's nice to write to the Proviseur and tell him/her, and say why you think so. I'm not sure they get much feedback generally.

PS you can't really go wrong with a Dior handbag

You can I would hate it!

but of course I would smile at the kind thought

of all teh presents I have had over 19 years, the ones I have treasured were presents chosen , or especially, made by children.

I also loved the one from a parent who stuck by us after a disastrous ofsted..she asked what would make me get over it , I said a bottle of wine and Sean Bean ..sure enough the bottle of wine appeared and a note to say she was still working on the rest! I loved it because she saw me as a person not " the teacher"

My "best" present was from a boy in my class. He stood and watched other children handing me gifts and put his hand in his pocket and took out a crumpled piece of card with a picture of a mobile phone which he handed to me and said "I got you a new phone"... I've carried it for 10 years

Hi,
The best presents I have had since I moved away from England have been presents that are from the countries that my children come from - a tablecloth from Bangladesh, cups from Korea etc.. They are so beautiful and remind me of the child that gave them to me. I don't think any of them were terribly expensive. Are any of the children in your child's class from abroad?
Other than that, the best gifts have been food from England! The other day, a child bought me some Marks and Spencer's apple pies after a trip - brilliant! Can you make a basket of "English" essentials that she might need - Radox bath bubbles, Cadbury's chocolate etc?
PS Can you move your children to my school please...

Romaan you see buying a crate of champagne as normal, this highlights how different your world is to most people's, most people buy some chocolates to say thanks to the hospital staff.

You, like Bonsoir, obviously are not like the majority of posters, living on an average income with children attending state schools, therefore your viewpoint on the OP's 'problem' is obviously different to that of most. However, you are probably far more likely to be able to help with suitable ideas than the majority of us.

I don't like presents at all. There are the asda presents (candles, etc),
the competiative parent presnt (theatre tickets, etc) and the home-made presents ('you VILL make this present for miss, even if it takes all weekend!')

When did all this start?
All I really really really would like is a thank you in the comment section of the report. A positive comment makes me feel warm inside and that writing the reports wasn't a complete waste of time.

competitive .... present.... ugh. BAD typing

Yes, I like a nice reply on the report acknowledgements slip too! I always tell my friends to do this!

teacher to be honest, I think there are many reasons why you would hate to work in my DCs school.

Receiving a very generous gift atthe end of Summer term, would be the least of it .

Wordfactory - I would genuinely be curious to find out why you think that?

Off the top of my head, the main things that would make me dislike working in a school might be:

• A school that does not focus on all children making progress.
• An environment in which 'transmission of facts' is seen as the only viable teaching style (although I am extremely good at subverting this!

The whole monied /arrogance / de haut en bas thing would be an irritant, I agree (though as a product - albeit a 100% scholarship product - of a very posh girls' boarding school, I have encountered it before). I would still rather be thanked AFTER I have shown myself to be worth it, rather than ritually, without any reference to what I have actually done.

But i am genuinely curious to know what the other features are that you think I would dislike?

Buskers maybe, but they saved my 4 wk old baby's life and made him completely fine! I was so grateful that 200 quid or whatever it was didn't seem like very much in the circs, they were all working over Xmas and we were in Switzerland where everyone else seemed to have a porsche

My ds will do cards [probably not home made -cheap blank cards with puppies or the like on them- but with sentence personal to teacher or TA inside]. He will be worried that others are giving presents though and has been known to cobble together bookmarks to put in envelope.
Will be glad if this nonsense stops at secondary [long time til then though]. All too much....

is this the international school in Paris?

Am I right in reading that Bonsoir lives in France, and hence, said teacher is also in France?

If that's the case, then a lot of people on this thread should really stop being so ridiculously upset, etc. - simply because generous gifts are not the norm in what would be considered a normal school here in the UK.

Never heard of "Different countries, different customs!!!". (From what I know, teaching jobs are very much sought-after/competitive, with the pedestal height of teachers socially equalling the well-paid doctors in the UK... but that's another story.)

OP - do you know anything more about the teacher? The London trip does sound good - if there isn't anything similar to be found within the country (adding an "out of country" element to the mix can complicate things).

Tasmania it isn't a case of different countries different customs

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8588733.stm

"As schools break up for Easter many teachers will be getting gifts from their students. But why has it got so competitive - and expensive - and can giving a teacher a present ever be just a simple thank you?

A few generations ago a Granny Smith would have done the job. Now a Tiffany bracelet, Rolex watch and Mulberry handbag are among the thank-you gifts teachers have received from pupils."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260706/Apples-teachers-pets-designer-gifts-instead.html

"A present of £1,000 worth of gift vouchers emerged as the most expensive offering in a survey of 1,000 members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers."

"We are considerably richer than yow."

One of my most precious presents from a pupil was the green pen (a fancy one with a friction eraser bit on the lid) that a child in my class gave me at the end of last year - I mark in green so he chose a gift that would be useful. I love it as much as I love the cards and notes that have a personal message of thanks in them.

Last year one of the parents (a graphic designer) made me a personal thank you card which was photographic and had my name printed on a pencil. It was extra special because she knew I liked the posters she produced for the PTA but also because, in class, I labelled each child's pencils by scraping off the paint and printing their name on the bare wood. I haven't framed the card yet, but I intend to.

As a parent, the most 'lavish' presents I've given have been instigated my my DDs. One was a personalised bag - sounds awful but DD said her teacher (an NQT) always took too much marking home and it would be nice for her to have a marking-sized bag instead of a reusable Tesco bag. I didn't share her concern about the type of bag but we found a suitable one and it had it printed up with an apple(!) and her teacher's name. Her teacher was over the moon and e-mailed me to thank me that evening, having already thanked DD. I know that a photograph appeared on her FB that same evening of the 'marking bag' and, more importantly to DD, that it is used! The other memorable present was to a teacher who'd introduced DD to The Beatles in Y2. She wanted to give him a Beatles present but said he probably had everything Beatles-related so decided a Beatles-related thing for his classroom would be better. She ended up giving him a cushion which was decorated with The Beatles and had Mr S on it. It's now in use in his new classroom.

Just got an email from the class rep suggesting all of us club together for an expensive electronic item for the teacher. She is lovely but even so..

Dh intervened and said no:) ds wants to write her a poem with all the things he likes about her, and I will craft a carefully worded email back to the effect we shall be doing our own thing.

We have a tradition of class gifts in our (independent) school - I prefer to give my own but whenever we ask the rest of the class the vast majority prefer to contribute to a single present. We always do a card from the whole class and would never tell the teacher who has and hasn't contributed. Typically £10 per child, some would like it to be higher. Usually John Lewis vouchers but one teacher got a silver initial pendent which she wears every day.

I'd love something like a night away in a pleasant local hotel!! That would be awesome!

Frankly though, the things I've treasured over the years are the cards with the lovely messages. I've received some really beautiful, heartfelt cards over the years. Those I keep and read quite often.

Just an FYI... Anything with "Best Teacher!" type of thing written on it generally gets binned pretty quickly. Unless it's a mug, and is quietly donated to the staffroom collection.

Flowers are lovely, chocolates... okay. Wine... I wouldn't unless you know for sure what she likes.

But, like I say, nothing beats a meaningful card. Really.

We have a whip round then buy whatever we can afford with the proceeds.

At the end of last year, dd1's teacher got a Jo Malone bundle and, with left over money, a pretty plant in special pot, and a string of wooden hearts the children had written their names on.

One year we knew the teacher was saving for an ipad, so we got her vouchers she could choose to use towards one. Another (TA) had a thing about necklaces, and birds, so we got her a beautiful silver bird pendant.

We try and make it personal to the teacher.

Next two years dd1 will have male teachers - a million times harder!

ps we tend to only do class collections at the end of the year, as a big thank you. Christmas and Easter are up to individual children (who like to make things) and parents, who like to give small tokens/cards or not as they see fit.