It was great waving all the teachers goodbye last week before they disappeared to the pub for their summer holiday 'Thank God it's all over' knees up. They went away garlanded with end of term presents, wine, chocolate, potted plants, books, CDs, you name it.

Tesco, in one of those probably spurious but nevertheless fascinating piece of research that the supermarkets spew out, estimate that the number of end of term thank you gifts for teachers is up by 30 per cent this year. It was never like that in my day. I don't ever remember giving a present - not even an apple - to a teacher during my school days in the seventies and eighties. My feeling is that any pupils doing so would have been regarded with deep suspicion and gained a reputation as appalling toadies and rank teachers' pets. 

So when did this new and to be fair, very nice, 'tradition' get going? And where did it come from? America presumably. Is it tied up with the post-Diana 'emoting society' or are we just pleasanter people now. Whatever, it is yet another glorious marketing opportunity for the high street to be slipped into the retail calendar between Fathers Day and 'Back to School'.

Inevitably there are cards with 'thank you teacher' messages and a dedicated display of presents at many stores. Is it a good thing? Why not. Teachers work hard and form close bonds with their charges. Call me a creep but a bottle of plonk or a box of Ferrero Rocher doesn't seem much to pay for their dedication.