Thank you for your replies
Without rambling on too much, I will try and make it short and sweet
Have worked for the company as a supervisor for nearly a year, as I've mentioned before they aren't the best company. Very high staff turn over and the owners are more interested in money rather than the children or the care they receive.
As soon as I started with the company I noticed how the ratios were not kept to. I'm based in the baby unit which is 1-3 and I was often left on my own with 5 or 6 babies. I brought this up to my manager as a concern for the children's welfare plus the fact I didn't think I should be held responsible if anything happened to one of the children in my care as we were over ratio. These concerns were never taken seriously. I felt personally my manager had a very relaxed attitude to these sorts of things.
There were also other minor issues such as not getting adequate lunch breaks, working a 10 hour shift with maybe a 10 minute break however they would still dock our wages by 30 mins (that's how long we're suppose to have). Due to the high staff turn over there would always be a different staff member with me each day, there was no consistency for the children I found and because there was always new staff starting, they would not be DBS checked for weeks which meant I was unable to leave the room all day. There were some days I would have to wait hours just to use the loo as managers and supervisors were unavailable to cover me to leave.
Another issue I faced (which I think started everything off) was a particular parent had an issue with me. All other parents (maybe 20) were happy with me and the care their children received bar this one lady. Now I don't mind someone complaining if their not happy with something however she would phone every week to complain, minor things normally and sometimes things I hadn't even done (occurred on my day off) however I would still get the blame. I think the final straw was when she phoned to make personal comments about me such as "I'm not happy enough, I don't smile enough and I seem very low". I was told by my manager to smile more after that conversation which I thought was unfair as I always greeted parents in a happy manner.
My manager also agreed this particular parent "had it in for me" as she never complained about anyone else. It was almost as if she wanted to push me out. I explained how uncomfortable the situation was making me as I was on eggshells every week waiting for a new complaint to be raised. I felt I couldn't do my job properly or concentrate on the other children in my care as all my attention had to go on this one child. My manager did agree it seemed this particular parent expected 1-1 care in a nursery setting which just isn't possible, but instead of explaining this to the parent they just put more pressure on me.
I was also reprimanded for completing paperwork whilst watching the children (there was literally no other time to do it) and I was asked to complete it at home instead. When I explained I don't get paid to take paperwork home I was told I was being awkward and not a team player.
(Also I'm pretty sure it's against data protection to take paperwork with children's details on home with us).
On one particular day, it had been extremely busy with around 10 children (one who was ill and very clingy to me), again we were over ratios with only 2 of us in there. Unfortunately when this particular parent arrived her child was crying (he wanted to be picked up) and at the time I was changing another child's nappy so I couldn't leave the child unattended on the nappy changing table. The other staff member was in the loo at the time so it was just me with 10 kids.
I explained to the parent her child had been fine all day and maybe just a little tired with it being the end of the day. She seemed ok about it but I could tell she wasn't happy. Around 10 minutes later I was pulled into the office by my manager who reprimanded me for the situation and said it was very embarrassing, I explained I was changing a child's nappy at the time and she then told me I should of put the child down (in the soiled nappy
) and cuddled the other child until mum had left.
I disagreed and explained I felt that was unfair and that children do need to learn to wait to be picked up as sometimes parents/adults can't just pick them up straight away. The conversation became very heated and she threatened me with a disciplinary as she was fed up with the contact complaints about me. I just burst into tears as I think the stress over the weeks just got to me in the end.
I explained I felt it was unfair to threaten me with a disciplinary as I really felt I did nothing wrong, I was trying my best but by god I'm only one person. I also pointed out that if they maybe followed the ratios properly these incidents wouldn't happen as their would be more staff to attend to the children.
After that day I felt absolutely exhausted by the whole situation and I just felt I couldn't go back. I needed a breather so I decided to book a Drs apt and get a sick note. I explained to the doctor what had been happening in work and she decided I would be signed off for a week with "work related stress". The week after was my annual leave anyway so I ended up having 2 weeks off in total.
I came back to work on the 2nd and was instantly reprimanded due to the fact I notified my manager of my sick note at very short notice. (I received the sick note on the Friday and notified her on the Sunday morning). I took responsibility for that and apologised however it was apparent that she was more concerned with her day off being ruined rather than the fact I'd been off ill due to stress. She never once asked me if I was ok or how I was feeling.
I was told I would need to have a welfare check meeting with her and the HR advisor to go over in depth what exactly had happened and what caused me to be off work. My manager said I would receive a letter in the post with all the details last week however I never received one. I explained to my manager this week that I still hadn't received a letter and that I felt I didn't really know what was going and what to expect and she said that she hadn't had a chance to speak with the HR advisor yet (so I'm not sure why she said I would receive a letter then).
Finally yesterday morning I was told I would be having my appraisal and welfare check meeting in one and to write down any concerns/issues and bring them with me and we would all talk it through. When I was pulled out of the office the HR advisor explained she knew nothing about a welfare check meeting and that she was expecting just to give me my appraisal. (HR advisor didn't even know the reason why I was off work 
). I explained that it was my manager (sat with us) who had told me I would be having a welfare check. I was then told they wouldn't be giving me one as they had decided to just draw a line under the whole situation and that it was "obvious that I was sorry for my actions" . I said that was fine however I still felt there were issues that needed to be addressed as I felt they weren't being taken very seriously.
We went through everything point by point and they just had an excuse for everything. I thought the HR advisor would be neutral however it was apparent she was defending my manager and her actions. Again, the conversation started to become heated as the HR advisor accused me of influencing the doctors decision in writing "stress at work" on the sick note. She also accused me of faking it and said my stress wasn't genuine, it was just pressure and I couldn't cope with it and she said I had made myself ill, not work. She also insinuated that I had gone off on the sick because I didn't get my own way
I explained I went on the sick because I couldn't cope anymore and that it would of been nice to have been supported in the situation. She replied with "people with genuine stress would take longer than a week off". She then asked if I wanted to carry on with the appraisal to which I said no and grabbed my bag and walked out in tears.
Sorry, I did ramble on in the end!