End of term gifts

GabriellaG54 - you're on shaky ground with that opinion I'm afraid - would you stand up in front of a class of up to 30 kids each day. be marking work up until 10 most nights, spending weekends preparing for lessons? Half term holidays spending writing up reports ? School holidays sorting out the curriculum for the next term, Changing classroom , preparing timetables etc?
Not like when you would have been at school when the subjects/ curriculum hardly changed from year to year!

As a retired teacher I would mention that all the Primary Teachers I know spend their own money on items for the classroom ,displays, science experiments and so on. Far more than they ever recieve in gifts. You see a lot of Worlds Best Teacher Mugs etc in charity shops - perhaps a hint of what not to buy!

GabriellaG54 You obviously don’t know how much work a teacher actually does. Working from 8 until 6 most days and then going home and working in the evenings. They also work many hours over the weekend and also spend their holidays planning, sorting out the classrooms and organising many other things for the term ahead. They are definitely not greedy, they don’t ask for the gifts but if a child turns up with a gift it would be heartless to turn that gift down.

Agree with you, teachers get well paid, feel presents should be banned just a simple card should do

When I was at Grammar School we gave our Geography teacher a big box of cigarettes one year. She was amazed and couldn't work out how we knew she was a secret smoker it was the cigarette burns on the desk in her office!

DD usually makes a batch of macarons for the primary school teachers. Always goes down very well! Last night GS2 who is six was busy working on a thankyou card. Mummy was in trouble though because she couldn't find an indigo felt tip!

I assume GabriellaG54 doesn’t know many teachers. I retired as a primary teacher 6 years ago. I (and all my colleagues) were working 60 hour weeks on average. Much of it to do with ridiculous amounts of paperwork required by Government. In my ‘long holidays ‘ I spent the first week in school sorting the classroom clearing out the previous years work. I was always in school the last week setting up for the new term , sorting the books etc. In the other weeks doing the long term planning. Most half terms I would be in at least 1 day prepping the display boards. One year due to no money in the budget my colleague and I painted our classrooms. I spent evenings during the term times planning and marking, parents evenings and school reports with a class of 30 could take up to 30 at least hours all outside of ‘school hours’. We always attended PTA events at weekends as well. We did all this because we cared for the children in our care.

No gifts should be given by parents or children....it could be compromising! Cards only.

I knew a primary school teacher who, every Christmas and summer end of term, binned every single present given by her class. Usually without opening them.

GabriellaG54 Teachers are 'greedy beggars'? Dear lord, woman, have you ever tried teaching? Ever spent time in a basic comprehensive school even? I'd give them a hell of a lot more than a piddling little 2.7 pay rise. Any presents they get, they thoroughly deserve!

Schools should just tell parents, "No gifts, please!" I always felt for the children who didn't bring gifts but watched others presenting them.

I guess my user name gives away my former career! But as a Secondary teacher I rarely received gifts - not cool! However, I'm not going to defend teachers and add up how many hours I worked other than to say that I spent the first few days of each holiday sleeping! Like many teachers I used my own money to buy things for my pupils, I taught less able children in the lower sets and they thrived on little rewards, incentives and prizes - all bought by me.

I was not aware that teachers had been awarded a decent pay rise at last having retired two years ago, it's about time after too many years of below inflation rises.

Back to the topic of presents, every school I have worked in had a policy of teachers not being able to accept gifts over a certain value, £25 at my last one. This is in line with all gvt employees. We had to declare any gift over £10 to the admin manager so that the school knew if we were getting "bribed" by a particular parent. I have to say I never had to declare a gift! I never did understand how I could be bribed by a parent either!

I think it has gone too far gifts for teachers even promoted heavily in stores now it is getting ridiculous in my opinion and competitive amongst parents - I work in NHS and us hard working nurses and midwives we hardly ever get a thank you said to us let alone anything more

My foster daughter has three daughters at school .Because of her ill health she has a very limited income .
Because we don’t want the girls to feel left out , inadequate, too poor to do what other children in their class do etc we are buying presents for their teachers but I resent them are her being under this pressure to conform .

Jaylucy don't rise to GG54's bait. She loves to be controversial and 'edgy'.

As a retired primary headteacher I would NY dream of banning gifts for staff...
But it is an invideous practise causing comparisons both in class and staff rooms..
Personally I have kept all my retirement cards and paintings but eaten the gifts years ago..

No child or parent is under pressure to give a gift or spend lots of money, a bar of favourite chocolate or a hand made gift is appreciated. There are a lot of people getting in a faff about something that is really of no concern to them, as to those demanding banning presents, for goodness sake, lighten up. Children, especially primary, like to give teacher a gift, some do, some don't. DD, a primary teacher with a class of 24 received about a dozen gifts ranging from a handmade picture frame to a triple pack of smarties, do any of you really have a problem with this?

I think gifts for teachers is another import from our American cousins, like baby showers! I think banning gifts is a bit mean as I know how hard teachers work throughout the school year.

DD was stunned to get quite a few Christmas gifts last year after her first term as a TA. She often makes gifts for DGCs teachers as she's good at that sort of thing

Places I have worked do not allow employees to accept gifts.

Why do teachers think they any different - a home-made card is plenty

Not a teacher but I worked in a women's refuge for some years and fairly often was given gifts by women who had nothing. It was extremely humbling.
Anything estimated to be worth more than £5 had to go in the once-a-year raffle for all staff, or, if it would perish, it went to a local charity.

I still have a musical resin carol singers model that I was given one Christmas. It is really not very nice and sounds tinny, but it reminds me each year of the woman who bought it and how fortunate I am to have a place to call home.

Oh, just give the teachers their bit of choccie! They work bloody hard for the dratted kids.

No no no. They've just been awarded a 2.7% pay rise. They're just greedy beggars

Don't you DARE say that Gabriella! You have no idea of the workload, or the stress, they have to put up with these days.

Ha ha - depends where you teach. I taught for 20 years I’m deprived London schools - we were lucky to get a thank you let alone a gift.
My kids school has a well oiled PTA who collect donations - recommended amount £5 and it is split 80/20 with teacher/TA.
This year I have LOVED my youngest boys teacher so I’ve got him a £30 Waterstones voucher from us, but unless the teacher is exceptional I just bing £5 in the collection. Only once I didn’t as the teacher was awful.

Gabriella! You're spouting the usual nonsense that certain groups love to spread about teachers. If you've never been a teacher, you really do not know what it's like!

An awful lot of posters are defending teachers accepting gifts by telling us how hard they work. I don’t dispute that at all but this is about the fact they accept stuff that costs money from people who can ill afford it.

Teaching unions go on about children living in poverty, struggling to buy school dinners/uniforms/trips in Britain and then they do that....beggars belief in my mind that these educated people don’t get it (or want to).

Gabriella, what a nasty post. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.