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

My dd, eyp level 3, has seen very negative staff behaviour in several nurseries she has workied in both private and chain.

One place the culprit was besties with the maanager so her behaviour was ignored or blind sided. CCTV wasn't allowed in certain rooms.
DD was left to get on with it sometimes whilst other staff sat around watching her and playing on their phones, again this wasn't allowed. Her complaints to management were either ignored or she was accused of lying and staff in one place ganged up on her.
She loved the little ones she cared for and was often in tears about it. She told me once, she wished parents really knew what was happening, they awere paying all this money for such poor care.
She whistle blew and contacted the police over two nurseries and investigations were carried out. One place was closed down as a result.

Please report it.

This is so much more common than we are led to believe. Everyone thinks that they've sent their kids to a good one but sadly that's often not the case.

@Mrsdyna from what people have said absolutely.

Op just needs to make sure it's reported in a way that will be followed up

@HowdoyoureallyKnow
*"Nannying and childminding have high levels of autonomy, which humans need for job satisfaction. You can choose what to do, where to go, visit nice places and be outside in the sunshine.
The only downside can be a lack of interaction with other adults which is why the chats at toddler group are so important.

Nursery staff are generally working from one room all day, with very little autonomy - the work is high stress, high stakes (you literally have the lives of vulnerable children in your hands) but simultaneously boring and repetitive.
High responsibility and low autonomy is the worst combination in a job for satisfaction/happiness.
But also they are held to much higher standards than parents in terms of never being irritable or losing their temper"*

I just wanted to highlight your post because I think it's a very important one. Being able to go outside to a park, a toddler group, for a walk and to break up the day will make for a much more interesting day for children and nanny / childminder alike. Parents here often berate the childminder's school runs, preferring nurseries but in fact young children often enjoy the extra walk and older children fussing around them, and seeing the world.

Otherwise they are in a room with high levels of noise following a very rigid structure. Yes there is outside play but that can be limited and even boring

Under safeguarding you have a duty of care to report this.
I realise that things may feel uncomfortable for you but you should ensure that you do report officially as in addition to the child, this will afford you some protection

Nursery owner here - shocking behaviour and this practitioner has no place in childcare (not in my setting for sure) you are contractually obliged to report this under your whistleblowing policy and you must do so right away. Good on you for being proactive on this, it’s all of our duties to protect children - you may save a future serious incident

Who, and she was a baby strapped face down onto a beanbag and left for over an hour and a half who died of suffocation.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/20/nursery-death-of-baby-genevieve-meehan-raises-troubling-questions

@AleaEim This thread is making me feel better about giving up work because I can't afford childcare!

Op this is awful. Please please sure you report this behaviour escalates. If she behaves like this in front of others imagine what she does without them looking....

Because this is little babies, and given what happened with Genevieve Meehan, I would whistleblow. That staff member needs to be suspended. Personally, I would go to Ofsted rather than anyone working for the nursery.

The woman was being abusive to the child. Report her anonymously to your local social care office. It’s a safeguarding issue. They will deal with it and you won’t need to be involved.

I’ve worked in nurseries and seen similar. That’s why I’ve decided to be a SAHM until my twins start school tbh (not judging working mums, I’m very fortunate to survive of partners wage) and I will never work in a nursery again. Report this woman immediately

If it's not taken seriously you go to your LADO.

Have you had safeguarding training? This is extremely basic knowledge for anyone working in a nursery. Report to your DSL and if their response is remotely dismissive, call the LADO (or online report as many counties are now doing).

As an ex manager of a preschool, look into your whistleblowing policy which you should have access to and follow that. If the nursery doesn’t act on your information, you need to escalate it to your Local Authority safeguarding team via the LADO. This is unacceptable.

You still need to get in and report it. In my opinion, you have a moral duty and you should already have done it. Surely, when a complaint like this is made, the Nursery would have a duty to inform the child’s parents? It’s horrific.

I felt like the nursery practitioners were not treating my child properly, but there was no proof! I promise you, the parent would be so grateful to know of something like that is happening. This worker needs to leave, and you urgently need to tell management so it can stop. Parents put their trust in nurseries, and would be mortified if this was happening.

Report this to your manager. It doesn’t matter how long someone has worked there or if they’re normally a great staff member. If you don’t feel like it has been dealt with appropriately, you can then forward on your concerns to LADO (local authority designated officer).

I reported a member of staff who had been there 15 years when I was a student and she was fired. I felt terrified but it was the right thing to do. I am in the job because I genuinely care about children and their education and wellbeing and I would be doing such a disservice to them and their family by ignoring poor practice.

Report this straight away. This is a serious safeguarding issue. You are there to protect children that can't speak for themselves.

When my GD was little I used to collect her from nursery most days
One day she came out V upset saying that the "Naughty lady" made her cry
She has always been spoken to softly and kindly so this would have really upset her
A week later I had arrived early and the door window blind had been left up.I heard and saw some very worrying staff behaviour directed at another child
When I got home I rang the manager.She was actually glad to hear from me as others had flagged this up
My call was the one that led to it being resolved
Please please report it
If you don't I guarantee your conscience will bother you forever

Another one here who's seen awful treatment of a child while working in a nursery. I reported straight to LADO. When I had my own child, thank God I was lucky enough to be a SAHM so I didn't have to use a Nursery (no offence to anyone).

I was a Sahm as well because I just didn't trust anyone to care for my DC when so small. I worked in nurseries and never witnessed abuse but I did witness some nursery workers who just didn't care about the children. Like did the minimum but didn't try to interact with them which was strange to me. My heart just fills up when I'm around toddlers and babies so it doesn't even feel like work, it all feels so natural. So I think it depends on the motivation of the staff.

I would not go to the colleague. No need to give her pre warning so she can come up with a sob story or pretend you misunderstood, when called in for a chat by management.

I don't care how shitty someone's private life is. If you can't bear being around kids because you are that stressed, you should be signed off sick or in a different profession.

This is a safeguarding concern. Your nursery should have a policy to follow when you have a safeguarding concern. Generally you need to go and speak to whoever is a safeguarding lead within the nursery.

This 🙏

I think you should go to the director and tell them you can't work with this person again. That will open up the line of communication because surely they will want to know why. You have to say something for that defenseless child's sake. I would bet that this has been going on for awhile and maybe with other children too. Another thing to think about is that if she injures a child while you are there you could be unjustly blamed if she decides to "play dumb" about what happened.

^ look on your Local Authority website and find a contact for the LADO. You need to report this IMMEDIATELY, THIS WEEKEND. Be strong.