Teachers end of year gifts

[iloveapplesandcakes]

We used to do class collections in prep and it worked great. Unfortunately that's not the case anymore with secondary, everyone makes own arrangements.

What kind of end‑of‑year gifts do people usually buy for teachers, and what’s the typical budget per gift?

It's a London day school if this makes any difference.

To make it a bit more complicated, teacher is male and child will give the gift, so no alcohol.

Could be a personalized planner with photos of the class or just printed wishes and nice words about him. We did that last year for both the teacher and assistant and they both loved the idea. Not sure many people still use actuall planners though but the personalized part is always nice.

You all sign the card. Really?

I usually get quite generous gifts from the parents of the girls in my tutor group. Use of a holiday home, handbag, perfume, all sorts. Often a Waitrose/Mabs S voucher for 50/100 to spend on picnics or whatever. Some parents give nothing and some are really stingy. They get well known quickly across the school and end up being the complainy sort that their daughter isn’t picked for things or doesn’t get her preferred tutor the following year or that staff don’t bend over backwards for them…

Things I have liked as a form tutor other than flowers/wine/chocolate have been a gorgeous silver bookmark that I still use, a poetry book of a poet I said I liked in class and the kid remembered, a mug with a picture of the whole class on (when they left), stationery is always good, one kid bought me 20 glue sticks! It's the gifts with a bit of thought - I have been teaching 25 years and I have every card and letter in a box. I love to get them out if work is shit to remind me why I do it!
Vouchers are also good - M&S, Costa, local independent coffee shop, Book token etc

Im surprised you’re allowed to accept use of holiday homes, handbags etc? It doesn’t speak to a very ethical approach throughout the school but then neither does the rest of your post. Worrying.

A bit shocked at lack of gifting cultures!
Teachers love a voucher - maybe club together with other parents if your class rep/PTA isn't doing a collection.
I think it's nice to have children do a thank you card for teachers and staff at the end of the year, especially if they can personalise with a favourite lesson or something the teacher really helped them with.
If that's too much to ask, a personalised email to each teacher is also a nice way to acknowledge how hard they work!
Really nice opportunity to remind children to connect with gratitude and thank people who help them - I've known facilities managers, cleaners etc who have been really touched to be remembered.