To become a member of Elwood Toy Library, it is important that you understand the rules and responsibilities of the Library.
Members can borrow up to 6 toys, puzzles or games at one time.
Toys can be borrowed for up to 3 weeks. Toys can be renewed once for an extra 3 weeks, provided they are not overdue. Toys more than 2 months overdue will result in cancellation of membership.
Members should choose carefully to make sure the toys selected are appropriate for their child’s age. Members must check and count pieces for the items they are borrowing before leaving the Toy Library. If there are missing pieces or missing packaging, tell the person on duty and a note will be made on the toys record. Each toy, game and puzzle borrowed is listed on a printed receipt. This details the toy code, number of pieces, any damage or missing pieces and the due date for return.
Overdue toys incur a non-refundable fine of $1.00 per family per full week. Missing pieces are fined at $5.00 per piece/item of each toy, puzzle or game and $3.00 per packaging or guitar string. Fines for missing pieces are refunded when the pieces/items are returned.
While allowances are made for normal wear and tear, members are required to:
Volunteers help run the Elwood Toy Library and membership requires each family to serve on a roster during open hours. The roster duty is 3 x 2.5 hours per year. Members can choose the time that best suits them by placing their name on the online roster at elwood.mibase.com.au (your member login will be emailed to you when you join the toy library). If you do need to swap sessions please let the co-ordinator know of the change. If you cannot make it on the day please let the co-ordinator know so that they can be prepared. You may also be asked to help with stocktaking and working bees or at events – helping at these goes towards your roster duty count.
The Toy Library is open each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9.30 to 11.30am. Please allow yourself at least 15 minutes before closing time for returning and borrowing toys as the Toy Library must close at 11.30am. The Toy Library is closed during Easter and Christmas holidays and on public holidays.
As part of our Covid-safe plan approved by public health officials, all members are required to thoroughly clean their toys prior to returning them to the toy library. If you do not clean your toys at home, you will be requested to clean them in the toy library. We thank you for keeping all our members safe. Toy cleaning instructions are available here (pdf).
Elwood Toy Library ("Provider") is pleased to make bicycles and scooters available to subscribers ("the Service").
As a subscriber to the Service you acknowledge that there are dangers and risks inherent with bicycle and scooter riding (the “Activity”) to which any child under your supervision ("Your Child") may be exposed.
The Provider does not provide protective clothing or bicycle helmets and it is your responsibility to ensure that Your Child wears a helmet at all times and is otherwise appropriately attired when participating in the Activity. You agree that Your Child will participate in the Activity at your own risk. You also agree to voluntarily assume responsibility for supervising the Activity and any injury, death or property damage you or Your Child may suffer or cause as a result of participating in the Activity.
To the maximum extent possible at law, you (both in your personal capacity and on behalf of Your Child) agree to release, hold harmless and indemnify the Provider and its respective officers, employees, servants, agents and contractors (the “Indemnified Persons”) against all actions, claims, suits, costs, expenses, demands and damages suffered or incurred by the Indemnified Persons or any one or more of them by reason of, or in respect of, or in any manner whatsoever arising out of, or caused by, your use of the Service or Your Child's participation in the Activity.
You agree that you are subscribing to the Service on the express condition that the Provider:
(a) will, under no circumstances be liable or responsible in any manner whatsoever for any death, loss, accident, damage or injury to you, Your Child or any of your servants, agents, contractors, visitors or invitees or any other person whatsoever (“Related Party”) which may happen as a result of your use of the Service or Your Child participating in the Activity; and
(b) will not incur or be under any liability whatsoever to you, Your Child, or to any Related Party for any loss, damage or injury to or in respect of any of your property or of any Related Party’s property.
The Provider is not liable to you, Your Child or any Related Party in respect of any indirect or consequential loss. For the avoidance of doubt, ‘consequential loss’ means loss or damage arising from a breach of contract, tort (including negligence), under statute or any other basis in law or equity of an indirect or consequential nature including, but without limitation, loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss or denial of opportunity, loss of goodwill, loss of business reputation, future reputation or publicity, damage to credit rating and indirect, remote, abnormal or unforeseeable loss, or any similar loss whether or not in the reasonable contemplation of the parties.
Our organisation is committed to child safety.
We want children to be safe, happy and empowered. We support and respect all children, as well as our staff and volunteers.
We are committed to the safety of all children.
We have zero tolerance of child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures.
We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.
Our organisation has robust recruitment practices for all staff and volunteers.
We have policies, procedures and education in place that support our staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments.
If you believe a child is at immediate risk of abuse phone 000.
This policy guides our staff and volunteers on how to behave with children in our organisation.
Children should never be left unsupervised in the care of toy library staff or volunteers. Parents/guardians should always supervise their children at the toy library. Wherever feasible toy libraries should implement the ‘two-person rule’ – ensuring there are two people present when the toy library is open.
All of our staff and volunteers must agree to abide by our code of conduct, which specifies the standards of conduct required when working with children.
Our organisational culture aims for all staff and volunteers to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child abuse or child safety concerns. Education is important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility. All staff receives training on our code of conduct.
Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels, including the relevant government department or police, depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.
Training and education is important to ensure that everyone in our organisation understands that child safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Our organisational culture aims for all staff and volunteers (in addition to parents/carers and children) to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child abuse or child safety concerns. We train our staff to identify, assess, and minimise risks of child abuse and to detect potential signs of child abuse.
New employees and volunteers will be supervised regularly to ensure they understand our organisation’s commitment to child safety and that everyone has a role to play in protecting children from abuse, as well as checking that their behaviour towards children is safe and appropriate (please refer to this organisation’s code of conduct to understand appropriate behaviour further). Any inappropriate behaviour will be reported through appropriate channels, including the, relevant government department or police depending on the severity and urgency of the matter.
We take all reasonable steps to employ appropriately skilled people to work with our members. We develop selection criteria that clearly demonstrate our commitment to child safety and an awareness of our social and legislative responsibilities.
We carry out reference checks and working with children checks for any paid staff members to ensure that we are recruiting the right people. Please see the Working with Children Check website for further information.
The safety and wellbeing of members is our primary concern. We are also fair and just to personnel. The decisions we make when recruiting, assessing incidents, and undertaking disciplinary action will always be thorough, transparent, and based on evidence.
We record all allegations of abuse and safety concerns using our incident reporting form, including investigation updates. All records are securely stored.
If an allegation of abuse or a safety concern is raised, we provide updates to children and families on progress and any actions we as an organisation take.
All personal information considered or recorded will respect the privacy of the individuals involved, whether they are staff, volunteers, parents or children, unless there is a risk to someone’s safety. We have safeguards and practices in place to ensure any personal information is protected. Everyone is entitled to know how this information is recorded, what will be done with it, and who will have access to it.
Our organisation takes our legal responsibilities seriously, including:
In Victoria, organisations are required to protect children when a risk is identified (see information about failure to protect above). In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children.
We have risk management strategies in place to identify, assess, and take steps to minimise child abuse risks, which include risks posed by physical environments (for example, any doors that can lock), and online environments (for example, no staff or volunteer is to have contact with a child in the organisation on social media).
This policy will be reviewed every two years and following significant incidents if they occur. We will ensure that families and children have the opportunity to contribute. Where possible we do our best to work with local Aboriginal communities, culturally and/or linguistically diverse communities and people with a disability.
Our organisation takes all allegations seriously and has practices in place to investigate thoroughly and quickly.
We work to ensure all families, staff and volunteers know what to do and who to tell if they observe abuse or are a victim, and if they notice inappropriate behaviour.
We all have a responsibility to report an allegation of abuse if we have a reasonable belief that an incident took place (see information about failure to disclose above).
If an adult has a reasonable belief that an incident has occurred then they must report the incident. Factors contributing to reasonable belief may be:
All staff, volunteers and committee members of Elwood Toy Library are required to observe child safe principles and expectations for appropriate behaviour towards and in the company of children, as noted below.
All personnel of Elwood Toy Library are responsible for supporting the safety, participation, wellbeing and empowerment of children by:
Staff and volunteers must not:
By observing these standards, all staff, volunteers and committee members of Elwood Toy Library acknowledge their responsibility to immediately report any breach of this code to
Elwood Toy Library’s Child Safety Officer (president of Elwood Toy Library) / leadership.
If you believe a child is at immediate risk of abuse phone 000.