Introduction

Despite progress in vaccination and experience from the 2020-21 academic year, given the emergence of new strains of the virus and that all students might not be vaccinated, running the 2021-2022 academic year is unpredictable.

Consequently, considering the general framework set by the Central Government and the Autonomous Regions, it is essential to plan to adapt to various scenarios, depending on possible health circumstances.

To foresee any possible changes in the healthcare situation due to the effects of the COVID19 pandemic, the Department of Education has envisaged four different scenarios:

• New Normality, and
• Alert levels 1 to 4, where 4 is the least favourable.

In the first (level 1), in-person teaching is guaranteed for all stages and groups.

The second scenario is the complete closure of schools, be this one, several or all schools, according to instructions from the health authorities. This protocol will be adapted to new scenarios that arise as the pandemic evolves and the directives determined by the Health Authorities.

COVID Commission

Participants

This commission comprises a student representative and a teaching representative from the School Council and the School Management Team.

The department heads and coordinators will work with the Management Team to design and subsequently implement it, following the general directives set by the Department of Education.

The contact person is the School Secretary, Arantza Idoate Azcárate who coordinates the Pamplona EOI organisation against COVID-19.

Tasks undertaken by commission members working with the Management Team to prevent Covid 19

Working together to disseminate the Contingency Plan drafted by the School Management based on the general protocol sent by the Department of Education:

• Disseminating the preventive measures relating to containing the virus spread:
  • Updating and disseminating the Contingency Plan, considering the current situation.
  • Ensure dissemination of the corresponding safety measures for personnel from outside the school.
  • Help updated information reach all members of the Education Community.
• Guarantee that classrooms and strategic areas will display infographics relating to prevention of coronavirus.

Working together on checking tasks to:

• Ensure the implementation and monitoring of hygiene and cleaning measures.
• Ensure information in the school on measures concerning soap dispensers and paper towels in the bathrooms, hand sanitizer in all spaces, plus disinfectant gel and paper in the classrooms, materials room, auditorium, staff room, departments, administration and the caretaker’s office.
• Ensure the existence of pedal bins with lids, containing bin bags, in the sensitive areas defined in the Contingency Plan.
• Check the correct implementation of physical separation barriers: counters, partitions, curtains, etc.
• Ensure that the distance separation is met on counters, reception desks, etc.
• Ensure that protective equipment is provided for staff depending on their job.

Check that the organisation and signage measures are met relating to flows of persons (access, movement and evacuation of the facilities)

It is the responsibility of all personnel to make sure that everyone complies strictly with the protective measures implanted, in an attempt to control and reduce transmission of COVID-19.

Organisation of teaching activities adapted to the pandemic

Main

Students will come in through the main door from Plaza de Compañía and once their classes have finished, they will leave the school via the emergency staircase which leads to Calle Caldería.

Students with mobility difficulties will leave the centre via the main door.

The students from the Multi-purpose Room will use the entrance door to leave the building.

The main entrance door will be split into two lanes, one to enter and the other to exit, differentiated by a separating post.  Anyone using the ground floor services (administration, caretaker’s office, materials room, auditorium, multi-purpose and tutorials room) will use this access door in both directions.

In all cases, it will be mandatory to wear a mask when moving around the schools, hand washing with hand sanitizer when entering the school, before entering the classroom and on leaving, once classes have finished, and maintaining the social distancing recommended by the health authorities

Blocking sectors

Students should not switch from one sector to another, except in the case of students enrolled in more than one language.

In the case of total blocking, it is not possible to switch or share classrooms or spaces: materials room, waiting areas.

Classification of levels according to the current health situation

Level 1: NEW NORMALITY. In-person teaching is guaranteed

In this situation, normal school life is maintained and students and teachers can move between sectors while following the hygiene measures in force.

The main aim in this situation is to guarantee in-person classes for all students on all working days.

Masks must be worn during the in-person classes for the whole session and hygiene measures must be followed. The teachers will use a face screen if advisable.

Use of digital platforms will be prioritised (G-Suite and Moodle) over photocopies. If students hand in homework on paper, these papers will be kept in an envelope and will remain in quarantine for 48 hours before being corrected.

Use of digital didactic games and/or applications will be prioritised. When using games made by the department, cards, worksheets, etc., teachers will disinfect laminated didactic materials before and after use.

Individual and/or pair work will be prioritised, keeping a safe distance, as opposed to group work.

The students will bring their own school supplies and will not exchange them. When lending any material to a student, the teacher will disinfect it before and after use.

The common classroom materials: whiteboard, computer, keyboard, etc. will only be used by the teacher. If Chromebooks or I-pads are used, the teacher will make sure they are correctly disinfected before and after use by the students.

Level 2/3: INCREASING SECTOR BLOCKING

The epidemiological status, defined by the Health Authorities, has different levels depending on the severity of the healthcare situation and the risk of transmission and it must be used as a guide to decide on how far to block schools, due to the emergence of cases in the school and due to the healthcare situation in Navarre in the case of a special outbreak.

Level 4: CEASE ALL IN-PERSON TEACHING AND CLOSE

In this situation, there will be a switch to on-line learning, following the timetable and the group assigned to the students at the beginning of the year.

Technology

The students will use the technological equipment that the teachers consider appropriate for the classroom session: Wi-Fi, Chromebooks, I-pads…

Tutoring plan and student care

Personal student care will be provided in the tutorial hours set by the teachers within their timetable, exclusively online in all situations.

Organisational and safety measures

Use of masks

Use of masks is one way to prevent infection from COVID-19; other measures include social distancing, strict hand-washing and not touching your face, nose, eyes and mouth and covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze. The following has been determined concerning mask use in the School:

• It is compulsory to wear a mask whenever an inter-personal distance of 1.5 metres cannot be maintained.
• Students will bring their own mask to the School.

Student entry and exit

It is fundamental that when entering and exiting, the students maintain a safe social distance and wear their mask.

Students will enter the building through the main door, in Plaza de la Compañía, and they will leave via the emergency staircase for all floors, except for the ground floor: the main door on Plaza de la Compañía will be divided into two lanes, entry and exit.

Students with mobility difficulties will use the lift and leave the centre via the main door.

The entrances will be marked with red stickers and exits with blue stickers on the ground.

People from outside the school: postal service workers, couriers, and students who need to do administrative tasks, etc. will enter and exit through the main door on Plaza de la Compañía.

In levels 2/3, access for persons outside the school will be limited and online tasks will be preferred; in phase 4, administration can only be done online.

Classroom management

A distance of 1.5 metres will be maintained between people and the tables will be arranged accordingly. Distribution close to the walls is preferred. The furniture arrangement must not sit students face to face.

A minimum distance of 1.5 metres will be maintained between the front row and the teacher’s working area (blackboard, screen, electronic whiteboard, etc.). The tables will be kept away from the classroom doors whenever possible.

Movement in the classroom will be limited and teachers should not approach the students.

Students should not mingle in the classroom.

The classroom should be aired periodically. Prescriptively, this ventilation should take place between 10 and 15 minutes before students arrive, at the end of each class.

Each student will disinfect the table and chair that they have used, before leaving the classroom, once the class has finished.

Materials Room

Users in the Materials Room will clean their workstation (table, chair, computer, etc.), supervised and helped by the staff in the room. The same instructions apply for the use of lockers. Once the user has collected their material, they will clean the locker. To do this, all areas will be equipped with cleaning products (approved by the Ministry of Health) and paper towels. The staff in the Materials Room will take responsibility for taking out and putting away these products that should be kept out of the students’ reach. Use of masks will be compulsory.

In level 1, the loaning service will be available. Returns will only be made using the red post box at the entrance to the Materials Room. Before handling, they will be kept in quarantine for 48 hours and disinfected before being put back on the shelves. The service will be stopped from level 2 onwards.

Managing internal movements

Students coming to class will enter through the main door, Plaza de la Compañía, and will leave via the emergency staircase leading to Calle Calderería. Students will leave class in an orderly fashion, starting with classroom 21 on the first floor and so on, followed by the second and third floor in the same order of classrooms, as if it were an emergency evacuation drill.

It will be compulsory to wear a mask when moving around the School and the recommended social distance must be maintained.

A system of signs stuck on the floor will be used. The red arrows indicate the entry routes and the blue arrows are for the exit.

As a general rule, the outer doors will remain open to prevent contact with the door handles. This instruction is not valid for the exit using the emergency staircase because fire prevention rules require it to be closed. In this case, students will wash their hands in hand sanitizer before leaving the school.

Classroom and office doors should remain open if possible. If this is not possible, the person that opens or closes them will follow the hygiene rules.

Basic distancing principles will be followed at all times in the corridors, stairways, bathrooms and common areas.

The teachers and students will always wear a mask when they move from one place to another in the building.

It will be checked that common pedagogic materials (Chromebooks, I-Pads, desktop computers, laptops, etc.) have been disinfected before and after their use. A formula will be devised to register the students who have use the material to be able to track a possible infection.

Common areas. The common areas or passing places will be used as little as possible to move from one place to another, avoiding using them for any other type of activities (conversations, lunch, coffee breaks, etc.). Approved signs will be stuck to the floor and furniture to mark safety distances.

Use of photocopiers. Use of paper will be kept to a strict minimum.

Managing bathroom use

• The bathroom on the ground floor will only be used by School staff.
• Students will only be allowed to use the bathrooms on the floor where they go to class.
• Teachers will use the bathrooms on their department’s floor. When teaching, the bathroom on the floor where they are giving class.
• Boys will enter their bathroom one by one. The girls’ bathroom will have a maximum capacity of three people. If the toilets are occupied, users must form an orderly queue outside, keeping the safety distance of >2m. In any case, students should avoid meeting other people in the common areas.
• The doors to enter the bathrooms will remain open

Cleaning and disinfection

Main

School cleaning and disinfection will be reinforced at the end of each work shift. Regarding cleaning, special care will be taken to disinfect the common areas and the most frequent contact areas.

Furthermore, workstations will be cleaned and disinfected at each change of shift paying particular attention to the furniture and other elements likely to be handled, particularly any used by more than one worker.

Student and teacher participation in cleaning and disinfection

Students will clean their table and chair (and any other common furniture or equipment) before leaving their workstation with an appropriate cleaning product and the necessary disposable paper. Consequently, each classroom will be provided with a bottle of disinfectant for furniture and another for electronic material and sufficient disposable paper for daily cleaning of all surfaces. All these products will be kept in the classroom cupboard. The students will be given time to clean all the surfaces that they are going to touch.

Students will try to limit touching common elements (door and window handles, handrails, etc.) as much as possible. The windows should not be opened or closed by the students.

At the end of each day, the cleaning staff/caretaker will refill the necessary materials for the next day.

The teachers will be responsible cleaning the classroom material that will be for common use that they are going to touch (table, chair, computer and peripheries, remote controls, keys, etc.) and for cleaning materials for students that cannot do so. For interactive monitors, they will use their pencil that will be cleaned at the end of the session, along with the common classroom material.

In addition to the above, students and staff will be provided with hand sanitizer in each classroom to wash their hand when they come in.

Managing School staff

Fundamentally, these rules must be followed:

• Maintain physical distancing.
• Apply barrier protection measures.
• Use of a mask is compulsory when it is not possible to maintain social distancing.
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or with hand sanitizer.
• Limit physical interactions between students.
• Make sure that the premises and materials are cleaned and disinfected and air the classroom at the end of the session.
• Train, inform and communicate.

Managing personnel from outside the School

Everyone who does not belong to the School must wear a mask. Entry is forbidden for people who have symptoms compatible with COVID 19, anyone who has been diagnosed with the disease and who has not finished the required isolation period or anyone that should be quarantining at home due to being in close contact with a person with symptoms or diagnosed with COVID 19.

They will be required to wash their hands with hand sanitizer on entry and keep an interpersonal distance of 1.5 metres.

People from outside the school should limit their movements within the building.

In levels 2 and 3: service will only be provided by phone or online.

Deliverymen: When a product is delivered to the school, make sure that the deliverymen notify the school of their arrival and leave the package in front of the caretaker’s office using the defined distancing and hygiene measures.

Measures for personnel who are vulnerable to COVID 19

Situations or pathologies that make certain workers consider themselves vulnerable to COVID 19 are: people with cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes, chronic renal insufficiency, immunodepression, cancer in an active treatment phase, severe chronic liver disease, morbid obesity (BMI>40), pregnancy or aged over 60 years old.

These workers can return to the workplace as long as their clinical condition is controlled and allows this, while keeping to strict protection measures.

If in doubt, the worker should get in touch with the healthcare personnel of the Occupational Health and Safety Section (seccion.prevencion.educacion@navarra.es); phone: 848 423 769 / 848 423 728.

The OHSS healthcare staff must evaluate the presence of a worker who is particularly sensitive to infection from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, determine the nature of this particular sensitivity for the worker and issue a report on prevention, adaptation and protection measures. To do this, they will consider the existence or non-existence of conditions that allow them to work without raising the risk of the worker’s health condition.

The H&S Section will notify the worker and the School manager about the measures that must be taken for this worker to continue in or come back to the workplace

In the event of a case of COVID 19

In the event that the School students or staff detect any COVID 19 symptoms (dry cough, fever, sore throat, tiredness and in some cases loss of the sense of smell and taste, shivers, muscular pain, headaches, general weakness, diarrhoea or vomiting), they should act as follows

How to act:

• Any students, teachers or other professionals with symptoms compatible with COVID 19 will not attend the School, or any that are in isolation due to a COVID 19 diagnosis, or quarantining at home due to close contact with a person with symptoms or diagnosed with COVID 19.
• When a student or teacher begins to show symptoms or they are detected by school staff during their working day or during the sessions, they should go straight home and contact their Health Centre or the Navarre hotline (948 290 290) for their case to be assessed. The same instructions apply to Administration and Services Staff members.
• In the case of students aged under 18, the teacher will contact the member of the Management Team who is on call, who will notify the family to come and fetch them immediately. The minor will be kept in isolation in tutorial office 1 on the ground floor. The student will be reminded of the procedure to follow: avoid physical contact, get in touch with their Primary Care Centre. Generalised temperature taking as a preventive measure against COVID 19 should not be done in any case.
• In the event of perceiving that the person with symptoms is in a severe condition or has difficulty breathing, call 112.
• Once the COVID 19 test has been done, the health authorities will determine steps to take with the remaining members of the blockable sector. If their test result is positive, they will not be allowed in the School for the period determined by the Heath Department. They should provide a sick note. Other members of the same family unit cannot come to the school either.
• This student’s classroom will be given a deep clean, after waiting the minimum period of 5 hours.

Extra Activities

Conversation clubs, workshops and unofficial languages

The teachers and students in these after-school activities will follow the same rules as the official teachers and students:

• Maintaining social distancing.
• Compulsory use of mask.
• Frequent hand washing with soap and water or with hand sanitizer.
• Entry through the main door and exit via the emergency staircase.
• Make sure that furniture and materials are cleaned before starting class.
• Train the students on correct mask use, inform them of the rules of this contingency plan regarding protecting people’s health and the entries and exits and notifying school management if COVID 19 cases appear among their students.

Cultural activities

The usual cultural activities will be organised, competitions, European Day of Languages, world book day, Basque cultural week, Pamplona EOI cultural week, residential courses for English and Basque, cultural activities for the departments, as long as the evolution of the pandemic and the Health Authorities allow this.

The fundamental health protection rules included in this Contingency Plan will be followed at all times:

• Maintaining social distancing.
• Compulsory use of mask.
• Frequent hand washing with soap and water or with hand sanitizer.
• Make sure that furniture and materials are cleaned before starting.

Annex: Instructions for putting on and taking off a mask

Main

Instructions to put on and take off a mask: it is recommended to place the mask against bare skin (with no hair in contact with the user’s skin and for some people, shaved) and follow these steps:

• Wash your hands with soap and water or rub them with a hand sanitizer solution before handling the mask.
• Identify the top of the mask.

Fitting the Mask

1. Place the mask on your face and adjust the nose strip to your nose.

2. Hold the mask on the outside and put the elastic bands round your ears without crossing them.

3. Lower the bottom of the mask to your chin. Check that the mask covers your chin.

4. Pinch the nose strip with both hands to adjust it to your nose.

5. Check that the mask is fitted correctly. To do this, you must check the seal and lack of breathing problems.

6. Once adjusted, do not touch the mask with your hands. If the user needs to touch the mask, they should wash their hands beforehand with soap and water or rub them with hand sanitizer.

Removing the mask

1. Raise your chin and grasp the mask by the elastic bands,

2. Fold the mask down the middle, not touching the outer part.

3. It is recommended to put the mask in a zip lock bag.

4. To use it again, pick the mask up by the elastic without touching the inside of the bag.

Advise

To avoid any contamination when using and/or removing a mask, follow these steps:

• Wash your hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer before and after fitting the mask.
• Once the mask is fitted, do not touch the mask with your hands.
• Remove the mask without touching the front of the mask.
• After use, put the mask in the appropriate bin.
• Wash your hands with soap and water or with hand sanitizer.