Have you bought or made teachers gifts this year?

susancs

pinkshoes wrote: »

This seems to be a primary school thing rather than a secondary school thing.

I teach secondary science, and I got a few lovely little cards from children thanking me for helping them. Oddly it was from the kids I didn't realise I had helped that much e.g. They were very self sufficient.

The kids i have spent a HUGE amount of time helping either academically or pastorally I got nothing from! I am not after a present or a medal, but a little email to say thank you would have been nice.

It makes me think twice about giving up my own time to help. I even ran an after school club for revision where one parent had the cheek to ask if I would do an alternative science revision with her daughter which was not my speciality subject!!

I agree with you that giving teacher gifts is usually done more in primary school. My 18 year old dd gave her biology teacher flowers and a thank you card this year, as she had been her mentor during her Extended Project Qualification, but left them at reception for her. Was surprised as my DD is quite confident, but she said it was embarassing to give her the flowers in person.

The upper sixth form classes did a collection (as many have weekend jobs) and got joint presents and vouchers for the teachers. The Physics teacher got a physics tie and off licence vouchers. The other physics ( mininon mad )teacher got minion slippers and voucher for costa coffee. Biology teacher (who loves plants) got a special rose plant named after her. Second biology teacher who had a new baby got a Man Utd baby grow with surname on the back for the baby (as is a Man Utd fan). One tea drinking chemistry teacher got a voucher for afternoon tea for two people and the other got Amazon vouchers.

As an early years teacher I get a lot of gifts from the children. I get plants and flowers, chocolates, tins of biscuits, candles and vouchers. I must admit that I do love the cards more than the actual gifts, especially if they are done by the little ones.

FreddieFrugal

Here_Comes_The_Judge wrote: »

So I'm sorry duchy. Teachers don't get holidays.

They do get some holiday and they deserve every blooming second of it.

When I was teaching full-time I did a 60.5 hour week (some weeks up to 70 more but that's probably the modal average) each of those hours completely mentally exhausting. It consumes your life.

60.5 x 39 weeks = 2359.5 annual working hours

Average uk working hours:
43.6 x 46.4 weeks = 2023 annual working hours

So an extra 336.46 hours - that's the equivalent of someone who works average hours working an extra 7.7 weeks a year. As in NO holiday leave at all, in fact they have to work an extra couple of weeks every year!

That's not even taking into account days that teachers work during the holidays which must be at least 1 day a half term and 2 - 3 every end of term.


Yes some people may work more hours, lots of people choose to do overtime - but at least they then get paid for it! Teachers don't.

It's a great job, requires huge amounts of strength and skill. They deserve what little time they do get to recover from it and actually have a life!

Gifts are lovely and always appreciated (should never be expected). But having a child just saying thank you for teaching them and wishing you a good summer means a lot.

barbiedoll

I've never bought a present for my son's teachers, apart from a small pot plant to say thank you to one particular teacher who was very understanding when my son was going through his "naughty" phase.

I always got him to write a homemade "thank you" card for his teacher at the end of the school year, but I knew that several of his teachers travelled to school by public transport or pushbike. The thought of them having to travel home with huge, ostentatious bunches of flowers/boxes of posh chocs, etc, all balanced on the handlebars of their bike, did make me smile!

When my son left his primary school, I emailed the Headmaster, asking him to thank all of the teachers/teaching assistants/admin staff who had helped my son throughout his primary school years. (it was quite some job, trying to remember their names!) I received a very nice reply from the Head, saying that he had read out my email in the staff room and that he was grateful that I had taken the time to write, apparently this was quite a rare thing then.

I live in quite a "deprived" area, but there was always a sense of "oneupmanship" in the playground on the last day of term. I've seen Jo Malone candles, (possibly knock-offs), designer perfumes (ditto) and once, a Fortnum and Mason carrier bag, goodness only knows what was in that. Not bad for a school which is slap bang in the middle of a council estate!

System

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Some of your kids schools have broken up already, some are next week.

Are you buying something for your kids to give their teachers?

Or have you made something for them?

How much have you spent?

My wife is doing it for sprogletina's teacher! I never liked a single teacher at school and i would never buy a teacher a present but wifey insists. My only issue is, i dont wear the trousers in situations like this

bylromarha

We break up next week. I'm expecting nothing from my class. I'll probably get some items which will be treasured for years. Of the overflowing cup cupboard in my kitchen I can still tell you who each and every cup came from. One particular cup from 2001 still makes me smile as I think of the boy who gave it to me and recall how, in year 5, he said "you actually made me enjoy school this year Miss"

I've already had my best "thank you" from one of my hard to reach boys who gave me a huge hug after transition day and told me he was going to miss me next year and thank you for all the fun he's had this year. Priceless.

I've bought my kids teachers a small bottle of alcohol and a bag of choc/popcorn. More from the fact my kids wanted to say thank you to their teacher with a present rather than a sense of obligation from me to buy a present. I'm proud to have raised them well, as they independently wanted to thank people they know have helped them all through the year. £3 total + home made card.

duchy

I did my own calculations on this

I was working at a high school at the time and we used the newly qualified teachers in their first post as the data point -and compared it with the graduate intake at my ex's multinational IT consultancy company .

So all new graduates and earning roughly the same .
In a normal working week the teachers worked far longer hours with evening marking whilst the graduates were recovering in the pub

Annually after taking into consideration annual leave of 5.5 weeks for the Geeks and the two weeks of the summer holidays the teachers agreed as an average for lesson prep... The total working hours per annum were almost identical - although the spread was entirely different .

I get really bored with the teachers holidays arguments -it's a non issue on both sides. New teachers work hard - but so do other graduates in their first job.

Not that this has anything to do with teacher gifts.
If the teacher is any good then teaching your kids a life lesson about showing appreciation to others can be good- but if you aren't the sort of person who thanks people and instead grouch "Well it's their job innit" then don't bother.

Here_Comes_The_Judge wrote: »

That can't be right.


I have recently joined MSE and been busy reading 100's posts across all the boards.


There are a number of posts where the amount of time off teachers get, has been pointed out (Half term, Easter, Half term, Summer, Half term, Christmas, all the Bank Holidays, every weekend. Teacher training days, where the school car parks are empty).


However, all the teachers that have responded, say the entire holiday is taken up by "marking papers", and "preparing lesson plans for next term".


So I'm sorry duchy. Teachers don't get holidays.

*Twinkle*

i stick a lotto ticket in a card from my kids............u just never know

Carfal

For many primary-aged children, their teacher is the most important and influential person outside their immediate family. Many children spend more time and receive more attention from their teacher than from their grandparents, extended family or a non-resident parent.

Why would a parent not wish to say thank you if the person in this role has carried it out well? A gift does not need to be expensive - I would actually prefer that it is not, as it is embarrassing for you, the child and the other children. The most appreciated gifts are those made or chosen by the child and the pictures and cards with lovely messages in.

The end of term gifts and ceremonies also serve as a marker to the children that they are growing up, moving on (a year is a very long time when you are only little) and time with that teacher has come to an end.

TBagpuss

lavandergirl wrote: »

I find it a bit disappointing that homemade things do not go well. The time and effort spent on making those things then to find out those are just thrown in the bin.

What do you expect teachers to do with them? The fact that they are thrown out does not mean that the teacher has not appreciated the thought, but most people have limited space, even parents and grandparents don't necessarily keep every single thing their children/grandchildren make, and then imagine multiplying that 20 or 30 times (depending on how many of a class give gifts)

I think that a hand-written note or hand-made card is a nice gesture - it shows appreciation, and can be kept, if wished, without taking up too much space or becoming clutter.

However, handmade gifts are far less practical.

I think as a general rule, f you want to give a gift then something like a box of chocolates or a (nice) bottle of wine are good - they are consumable so there is no issue about having to either throw them away and feel guilty, or keep them and have unwanted clutter, they can be passed on to friends or family, used as raffle or tombola prizes etc if they are not to the recipient's taste.

home baked goods I think depend on the individual.

I'm not a fan of the 'worlds best..' 'for a special...' type of gift for anyone, whether it is a teacher, or grandparent or anyone one - they strike me as unimaginative and they seem often to be cheap and ugly examples of what ever they are.

I'm not a teacher, and in my role I very rarely get given gifts in my work environment, but if I do, I will thank the giver, but I won't keep something I don't want, out of sentiment. I have too much clutter of my own already. I would never throw away, donate or re-gift a git in circumstances where it was likely to become known to the giver, however.

lilmiss1982

£5 +

Threads like this make it hard to know what to give as nothing seems to be appreciated other than a simple thank you card.

I do give a little something each year along with a card as I know staff work hard with my kids.

This year I have sent a homemade cake into each of my kids schools, not sure if anyone will dare it eat it or not, they go down a storm at my work place so hopefully staff will risk it and give it try and enjoy it.