Private school teacher y/e gifts etiquette

[yammajamma]

DD is in reception so we are new to this. We are contributing to a collection for the form teacher and also teaching assistant but there are also specialist teachers for music, art, French, dance etc. Are we also expected to gift to them as well? Otherwise they wouldn’t get anything right? What does everybody usually do please? Thanks

It's likely that those teachers will have a form group in a higher year. They will be fine.

We only gave additional presents to those teachers who went above and beyond.

Thank you, that makes sense.
How about cards, or should I not bother with that either?

Our parent association sorts out something for all staff. Usually a bottle or two.
Over the years we have gotten an additional present for teachers who have gone above and beyond but there’s no expectation to do that.

Don’t bother with cards. Only give to specialist teachers if they’ve gone above and beyond for your kid.

DD1 is in year 1 now, but we’ve followed the same plan for each year since nursery in that each family contributes around £10/20 each and the total is split between all the staff the children have:
teacher, TAs, subject staff, breakfast club and ASC.

it works for us

Is it primary only? This teachers won’t have form classes. They get the odd present from parents that understand they get forgotten! It’s never expected that you give gifts, but it is appreciated. I am not a specialist teacher, but I don’t have my own class, it’s really nice when someone remembers us! However, maybe leave it for a bit later in your child school life? Either that or send a card with a small gift (a bottle or a Biscuiteers box etc).

my kids are in nursery and I give gifts to all the staff in the room. I’ve set myself up to spend a fortune, however, they care for my children wonderfully and are woefully underpaid and overworked. I get them all vouchers and flowers as I’m unsure of their alcohol consumption /allergies etc. I avoid ‘token’ gifts (best teacher mugs etc)

Thank you everyone for your input!

At our school, each class does a collection and gives a proportion to a central collection which covers specialist staff, the office staff and anyone else who doesn’t have a form. The rest gets split between the teacher(s) in the class.

We only gave additional presents to those teachers who went above and beyond.

Same! Handmade cards are always appreciated though, so if your DD wants to she can make a few for the teachers she specifically wants to thank. We also did custom desk calendars for every teacher last year but this year decided not to.