New to working in a nursery and witnessed horrible treatment

[Emrald1]

Today, my colleague was in a bad mood and just wanted to do tasks like clearing drawers and not interact with the children. She was frustrated with a DC crying and said 'right, this is what we're going to do' and she forcefully grabbed her by the hand and marched her over, plonked her hard down on the floor and then chucked her doll that she had brought in from home down on the ground next to her really hard. A bit later on, she aggressively marched over to the same DC with a angry look on her face and forcefully removed her dummy from her mouth. Whilst having dinner, the same DC was trying to take food from another's plate and she again grabbed her hand away in not a nice way and shouted NO. I don't do nappies as I am lunch cover so I let her know that this DC had soiled their nappy, as she was on nappies and there was no other staff present. She gave a look of disgust to the DC and didn't say anything. I made a note of these things. I was looking for advice as I know I need to report this but this member of staff has been there a long time whereas I haven't and I have a feeling I won't be believed as I think she is seen as a very competent member of staff but this was witnessed by just me. How can I approach this please

Please report her to management immediately, is the nursery part of a chain? You could report it to another branch if you think the management in that nursery are not likely to act

God I feel so lucky my DC nursery is so bloody amazing and loving - the thought of this absolutely breaks my heart. Please do what you can.

If it was me, I would report it to the nursery manager. If it causes you a problem then you leave because you wouldn't want to work somewhere that deems this acceptable.

Although I find it unlikely that no one else has ever witnessed this behaviour from her.

Be strong OP. Write it all down in a log and ask to speak to someone to report it. She is not your friend and that is not good practice.

Report to highest person in the nursery with your written down evidence.

Is there cctv?

I wonder how many like this are in there. I don't think this is as rare as we'd hope.

I'd speak to the manager. I'd say it was bad enough that you had to say something. This could be tough working together. I would find this hard to deal with if I said nothing. It's the right thing. She sounds a menace.

That's the problem. She's probably really sweet to the parents so they would be none the wiser. I have worked in nurseries but I have never witnessed abusive behaviour like this. OP, I think you will have to report this because this poor child is a victim. And if it's not being dealt with I would tell the child's mother myself because we as adults do need to protect vulnerable children. This post made me sick to my stomach.

Please please please report. It makes me think of the little girl who was killed at a nursery near us and apparently it was well known she had taken a dislike to her. I would be heartbroken to think that my child was being treated like that.

I think I'd have to tell the child's parents that this is how their daughter is being treated.

I'm sorry you've been put in this position OP, but you absolutely need to report this properly to management.
She must be causing this little child distress. She's clearly in the wrong job. Awful woman.

How do you know?

This makes me feel so sad 😢 please report this

This is so heartbreaking.

Please report to the manager but be prepared for this to be swept under the rug.

Therefore also raise a concern with the Local Authority or Ofsted.

Report to your manager, OFSTED and local authority

Report, report, report.
You have to be an advocate for this defenceless child.
I'd want to kill that bitch if she treated my children like that.

I just know at our nursery it's not like this, the love and care they show these kids is unreal- most of the staff have been there for a really long time it's an amazing place that I've put two children through. I have a sixth sense about people- I'm a good judge and this place just oozes care. I hope the parents would pick up that something isn't right but hopefully instead OP will report this.

You could pull her up there and then. Tell her it's unacceptable to treat a young child this way. Make a noise OP.

Trust me, I know. Shitty thing to say by the way.

Jesus, I don’t know why I opened this thread as I have a DC at nursery (a bit older than the one in your story). I’d take the face clean off this cow if I was that child’s mum.

Please report urgently. Don’t let them sweep this under the carpet.

This is about the 3rd thread I've read about nursery staff mistreating children in the last couple of weeks.

It seems to be more common than I thought.

I think it was a normal, sensible question?

No you don't. Stop digging your little hole.

This happened at my DS's nursery, and it was the other staff complaining about the woman that got her sacked and charged. It meant I still had trust in the nursery because it's not a nice thing to grass on your coworkers, but the staff knew it was the right thing and did it. You probably should too

It's your duty to care for the dc... So care enough to keep them safe in a place they should be safe. She is a bully and banking on you keeping quiet. If staff don't do anything I would tell the parents.