Coronavirus Information

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Coronavirus information

Oakley College is actively monitoring the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and will be updating this website regularly to share information about the School’s preparations and responses. We are also following the Canarian Health Department and Canarian Government guidelines on responding to the virus.

This website has several sections. These include:

Responding to Coronavirus

Inclusion and Equity

As a school rooted in equity and social justice, we remind our community that no bullying, harassment, or exclusion of any kind will be permitted.  It goes without saying that reminding students that Oakley College is an inclusive community and that any sign of harassment, bullying, or exclusion due to a child’s national origin, recent travel, race, ethnicity, etc. will not be tolerated. If you’re interested in some resources, Speaking Up Against Racism Around the New Coronavirus (Teaching Tolerance, part of the #UsvsHate Challenge) is a great place to start.

COVID-19 new coronavirus disease (Gob Canarias 7.3.2020)

“COVID-19 disease is produced by a new type of coronavirus that can affect people and has been detected for the first time in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China.

The incubation period is in 2 and 14 days and the most common symptoms include fever, cough, and feeling short of breath. Infection in children is usually asymptomatic or has mild symptoms. The most serious cases generally occur in elderly people or those who suffer from some other disease, such as cardiovascular, respiratory or immune disorders.

It is recommended that schools inform and disseminate information following the recommendations of official sources so that they can rely on materials developed by their Autonomous Community or the Ministry of Health

https://www.mscbs.gob.es/en/ciudadanos/portada/home.htm

How to prevent COVID-19 infection

There is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19. The best way to prevent infection is to reduce the risk of exposure to the virus.

There are general principles that must be followed to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses

– The use of masks to protect against infection in education is not recommended.

– Sick people with symptoms of acute respiratory infection should not go to educational centres and should avoid close contact with healthy people .

– Students, students, teachers and staff of educational centres and visitors should take extreme hygiene measures and wash their hands frequently with soap and water especially after coughing, sneezing and touching or handling handkerchiefs. Special attention should be paid to the departure and arrival at home, when arriving at the centre, after using the bathroom, after breaks and sports activities, before preparing meals or before eating any food.

– Avoid, as far as possible, touching your eyes, nose and mouth with your hands.

– Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze, and dispose of it in a garbage can with a lid and pedal. If tissues are not available, cough and sneeze on the inside of the elbow so as not to contaminate the hands.

Actions the Public Health Service will take in case of an infection in schools (Gob Canarias 7.3.2020)

The Public Health Service of the Autonomous Community will contact the educational center to report the confirmed case for COVID-19, investigate the case and identify contacts and recommend precautions and actions to be carried out.

The Public Health Services, will carry out a risk assessment and determine the specific actions. In general, it will not be necessary to close schools and educational centres where confirmed cases are identified for COVID-19, although the situation will be assessed individually.

Close contacts

Public Health services will assess each contact individually to determine the degree of exposure and risk and will be given specific indications.

In general, close contacts may continue to go to the educational centre and will be actively monitored as established in each Autonomous Community during the 14 days after the last exposure with the case confirmed.

As a general rule, close contacts should have their temperature taken by parents, before going to school.

 Close contacts are considered:

In nursery schools (up to 6 years old):

– All children and classroom staff. The health authorities will carry out a risk assessment in the nursery or nursery school to assess the duration and closeness of contact with the case, which guides the decision-making process to prevent new cases.

– If several classrooms of the same centre had activities in common, it will be taken into account. In general contact on a bus, playtime or activities limited in time, will not be considered as close contacts.  However the Public Health authorities will assess each case.

  • If another case appears in another classroom, it will be considered as close contacts to all children and nursery or preschool staff.

In primary, secondary and university education centres:

– If a confirmed case of COVID-19 appears in the centre, close contacts will be considered for colleagues who have frequent and continued contact with the patient, such as school, play, table, and dining room mates and at most all classmates who share the same classroom.

– If two cases appear in the same centre, all students in the classrooms where the cases and their teachers come from will be considered close contacts .

– If three or more cases appear within one month, in at least two classrooms, all students and staff of the centre will be considered as close contacts .

– Public Health authorities will also assess the contacts that have taken place as a result of social, recreational and sports activities.

Casual contacts

Casual contacts are considered to the rest of the students, teachers or professionals of the educational centre that do not meet the criteria of close contact.

The management of the centre will inform all parents, teachers and professionals of the educational centre of the existence of the confirmed case. Casual contacts will perform a self-monitoring of their state of health (passive surveillance) during the 14 days after the date of the last exposure with the confirmed case in which they will be alert to any symptoms (fever, malaise, cough …). In case of presenting symptoms compatible with COVID-19, it would be considered a case under investigation.”

(Gob Canarias 7.3.2020)

Prevention

Stay Home if Ill (Updated 10/3/2020)

We remind community members (students, employees, and parents) to stay home if they are ill. You must be 24 hours fever free without medication before returning to school. If you, your child, or a family member is coughing with a fever or has had a fever within 24 hours we require you to stay home until symptoms have subsided. We also remind you to report this absence to the office and as we are required to report on absence rates.
Learn More » (Link to Coronavirus advice for educational settings and 42d7b22f-f621-4a62-8ba5-0b1e51b22457 in Spanish)

Practice Healthy Habits

Prevention remains the number one strategy for keeping our community healthy. Frequent hand-washing, coughing or sneezing into your elbow, avoiding people who are sick, and wiping down frequently used surfaces are proven methods of keeping the community healthy. We are asking teachers to reinforce these strategies during the daytime and ask that you reinforce them at home.

Clean Often

Oakley College is re-inforcing our cleaning procedures, wiping down door handles, water-fountains, light switches, desks, sinks, soap dispensers, water coolers, refrigerator doors, desks, chairs, shared computers, work stations, remote controls, common play spaces, sports equipment, and more. We recommend doing the same at home.

Learn more (hotspot linking to the below poster)

https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/pdf/poster-germs-are-everywhere.pdf

Monitoring Gatherings

We are evaluating our various school gatherings on a daily basis and, combined with guidance from the Department of Health, will determine when and whether to cancel or modify larger gatherings. At risk level 1 and 2, most gatherings will likely still take place. At risk level 3, classes will still take place and all other gatherings will likely be rescheduled, adjusted to take place virtually or in another format, or canceled entirely.

 

Families with Immunocompromised Family Members (added 3/5/2020)

While school remains open, if your child or family member is immunocompromised and you would prefer that your child remain home while the virus is ongoing, you may opt to keep your child home under our existing medical leave policies. Any information provided to us about a person’s health status will be kept strictly confidential. Call the school receptionist to advise of your situation.

PRIMARY

Dear Primary parents

The teachers are currently preparing the children’s lessons which will be taught online from Monday March 16th.

The lessons will be accessed via the year group blog. Early Years have their new blog links below. The blogs will enable the children and parents to communicate with teachers as well as teachers giving the lesson information.

Owls – owlsoakley.edublogs.org

Rabbits – https://rabbitsoakley.edublogs.org/

Each morning at 8.45am the children (or their parents) will need to “register” themselves by writing on the blog that they are “here”. If they are absent the parents will need to email Miss Janice or Reception (Isabel or Leire) as usual.

The lessons and work for each day will be put on the blog by 8.30am each morning. We will try to keep to the timetable as much as possible although it will have to change slightly due to certain lessons being a little more difficult to teach if the class are not altogether, for example PE and music.

If you have any questions please use the blogs or email staff as normal.

Mr Donat

Principal

SECONDARY

Dear secondary parents and students,

During the school closure we will provide online learning for our students. The lessons will run at the same time as normal, however you will be at home as will the teachers. The other main difference is that the lessons will run for 40 minutes and finish 10 minutes early so that staff and students can have a break between lessons.

Registers will be taken and recorded as normal. Therefore If a student is not able to attend a class, parents should contact the school by E-mail in the normal way to justify an absence.

The first thing we will do is ask who is present. The teacher will put a comment on their Google Classroom. All students must reply. This way we can keep a register of who is present and who is accessing the curriculum.

Using Google Classroom the teacher will post the work they have prepared for the specific classes. Throughout this time you will be able to ask questions for any clarification on Google Classroom. Work should be handed in through Google Classroom unless otherwise stated.

Extension work and other resources will be added to Google sites to enhance your learning.

Please be assured we are doing everything we can to ensure our students learning continues throughout this time. This is also an excellent opportunity to see what we can really do with our chromebooks and push ourselves to learn new skills.

Regards,

Mr Donat

Principal

SATURDAY SCHOOL

Dear Parents,

As a consequence of the COVID-19 virus, and following the Order of the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, of March 12, 2020, where face-to-face educational activity is temporarily suspended, and in turn, it is recommended to continue educational activities at Through distance and on-line modalities, at Oakley College Saturday School we will ensure that teaching continues to be delivered electronically through our blogs.

In a few days they will receive all the necessary information to access the material from their child’s group so that they can continue with the English classes at Saturday School as normal at home.

Updates will be available on the web.

Regards,
Nika

School Trips

We are monitoring school trips based on current guidance from the Canarian government and contracted travel companies.

  • LOCAL FIELD TRIPS: All trips are suspended until further notice.
  • INTERNATIONAL TRIPS: The department of education have cancelled all international school trips until further notice. As a result our 6th form trip to London scheduled for the end of March will not go ahead.

Any change to this situation will be communicated directly to those involved.

Personal Travel Guidelines

If you are planning to or have returned from an area of the world considered high risk, please inform the school by sending an email to admin@oakleycollege.com

Please also ensure that on return to school your child is well. Continue to monitor your child´s health and if they have a temperature follow medical advice (call 112) and do not return to school until the doctor advises. Please advise the school in all such cases.

https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov-China/home.htm

How to Talk to Children about Coronavirus

Coronavirus Resources

Lockdown recommendations 

Make your own face mask

The family lockdown guide

WHO’s Covid-19 Website 

Canarian government updates

Canarian government –citizens advice

Information for travelers arriving from affected areas

Coronavirus advice for education

Oakley College Coronavirus Communications

Oakley College’s Risk Level

Oakley College’s Current Risk Level is 3. We continue to closely monitor the situation.

In addition to following guidance from the Canarian Department of Health, Oakley College is using a risk evaluation matrix (see below) in responding to possible impacts of COVID-19. We are meeting daily to re-evaluate the School’s risk level and will inform families as the situation changes. Different protocols will be put into place if and as the risk level changes.

 

Coronavirus Risk Matrix

The Oakley College risk matrix is as follows. Please note that these are guidelines for internal use and that it is up to Oakley College’s discretion—in coordination with the Spanish Department of Health (Sanidad)—whether all, some, or most of the bullet points must be made before moving to the next risk level. Actions that will be taken in case of a change in the risk level are detailed below:

Risk Level 1 (Low Risk)

  • No Oakley College cases of Coronavirus
  • Very few reported cases of COVID-19 in Gran Canaria
  • Some countries declare public health emergency
  • Airports implement screening mechanisms; some travel advisories recommended
  • Canarian government and Department of Health allows school to remain open

Risk Level 2 (Moderate Risk)

  • Limited cases of COVID-19 in Gran Canaria
  • Travel advisories recommended by WHO and Canarian government
  • No Oakley College students, families, or employees identified with COVID-19
  • Average student attendance remains high (90-100%)
  • No advisories against non-essential travel to non-affected countries.
  • Canarian government, WHO, and/or regional health authorities declare a pandemic
  • Canarian government allows school to remain open

Risk Level 3 (Medium Risk)

  • Few COVID-19 cases within school community
  • Increased community spread of COVID-19 in local Area
  • Average student attendance below 80 – 90%
  • Increasing evidence of potential restrictions on airline travel/other forms of international public transportation
  • COVID-19 disease behaviour or contagiousness changes to higher risk level
  • Canarian government allows school to remain open and school opts to remain open

Risk Level 4 (High Risk)

  • Canarian government closes the School
  • Significant spread of COVID-19 cases within the school community
  • COVID-19 cases quickly increasing in the local area
  • Government directs that schools be closed
  • Evidence of restricted airline travel or major travel restrictions
  • Staffing and attendance issues at school
 

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