It’s almost the end of the school year and time for children to say goodbye to their teacher and teaching assistants. Some classes decide to club together to buy a gift for the teacher and teaching assistants to thank them for their hard work and to show them they’re appreciated.
Has your class decided to club together to buy gifts this year? One parent (perhaps you) might be organizing a joint collection, possibly via your class parents’ WhatsApp group, so the teacher and assistants receive one lovely present rather than lots of smaller ones destined for the drawer.
Here we share some aspects to consider before you go ahead, as well as some fabulous gift ideas!
Do teachers want a present?
Mumsnet carried out a survey of 1,200 teachers and teaching assistants and discovered that nearly 70% would like a heartfelt note from the children they have taught. Many (47%) said any present is valued.
A huge 77% of teachers and teaching assistants worried that parents could feel pressured into contributing to a whole class present, and 68% were concerned that children whose parents cannot afford to contribute would feel left out.
Last year 31% of children in the UK lived in poverty, and that’s a figure that will only have risen this year.
Considerations if your class is clubbing together to buy a present for the teacher
If you are the parent kindly organizing an end-of-term present collection there needs to be consideration about family budgets and how people feel, particularly in the current climate. You could suggest parents donate up to but not over a certain amount (say £3).
On the card accompanying the present consider writing ‘From Class 2’ rather than naming all the children whose parents have contributed. That way no child is excluded if their parent has not contributed for any reason (because it’s not within the child’s control).
What if parents want to know what the gift is before I collect the money?
Conservatively estimate how much money you are likely to receive and choose something that is not too expensive. You can always add flowers or chocolates to the gift if you receive more money than you expected.
If you don’t collect as much as you predicted, you can always buy something else instead and explain to parents why the gift has changed. Obviously, the former situation is preferable to the latter!
Gift ideas for teachers
Photo book
Create a book of photos of every child in the class with a message from each of them. This takes a lot of organizing and does depend upon every parent contributing, so you need to know the parents in your class very well and be sure that they will. If you have the time and patience to manage it, this is a winner!
Framed, personalised picture
You can order beautifully framed pictures decorated with children’s names. Have a look at this rainbow print teacher gift available on Etsy. The advantage of this gift over the photobook is that it is easier to organise and doesn’t depend on every parent providing a photograph of their child.
Handmade gift
Is there a parent in your class who has a talent for crafts? They might bake special cakes, make jewellery or pottery, paint watercolours or sew bags? Something made by a class parent can be even more special to a teacher.
Jewellery
If you know the kind of jewellery your teacher or teaching assistants wear, then this could be a winner!
Vouchers
You could buy a voucher for a major store like Amazon, Cineworld, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis or Waterstones. There might be beauty salon, café or restaurants in your local area that offer vouchers for things like meals, afternoon tea and spa treatments.
The advantage of vouchers is that you can almost match the amount of money you collect to the cost of the gift. This is also a great idea if you’re not sure what the teacher or teaching assistant would like.
Alcohol/chocolates/flowers
These are usually a winner especially if you know what alcoholic drink the recipient enjoys and if they’re not on a special diet!
Summer learning booster for kids
The long summer holiday is a welcome break from school life and early starts. However, you might be concerned that the length of the break will lead to what’s sometimes called ‘summer learning loss’. This is when children start the autumn term with lower achievement levels than at the beginning of the holiday.
If you think your child would benefit from short one-to-one tutoring sessions during the holiday, please talk to us. We offer maths, English, science, humanities and language tuition.
Please contact us on 01223 858 421 or hello@tutormykids.co.uk