COVID-19
The news that effective vaccines will soon to be rolled out is extremely heartening. The greater availability of tests is also extremely helpful and we would certainly strongly suggest that any resident who has to travel outside the UK gets a test as soon as they return because this will reduce their period of quarantine to just 5 days.
Not surprisingly we have had the largest number of departures and arrivals in Zebra’s history. We have many new residents. Whilst observing all the precautions – the use of distancing and masks in all common areas and hand sanitising please help new residents adjust to their new home which is very often in a new country by being polite and helpful and indeed by leading by example in observing those precautions.
As a sign of our optimism we have scheduled a date for our mid-summer party/barbecue – FRIDAY 25 JUNE 2021. Put it in your schedules!
Zebra’s strengths are that our accommodation is in very central locations so university is only usually a short distance from your home. Everyone has their own cooking facilities, and the majority of our accommodation has its own bathroom/WC. Even where there is some sharing of bathrooms/WCs it’s generally quite limited. And we have a very thorough, regular cleaning service. We have wardens and deputy wardens at every scheme who can help and our whole not-for-profit ethos is resident centred.
Our priority remains the safety and security of our residents.
Christmas opening
As usual we are closing for the Christmas holiday period from Thursday 24 at 12.00 pm to 9.30 am on Monday 4 January 2021.
We will, of course, continue to provide an emergency service over that period.
Wardens and deputy wardens
We appoint wardens and deputy wardens because they have experience in working with international students and have been students themselves. They are there to deal with emergencies, particularly out of normal working hours – like over the Christmas holiday period. However, they can also help residents with advice and information during the pandemic. In essence Wardens are responsible for maintaining a quiet and safe building for residents and their dependents.
During the normal working day you should email us on repairs@zebrahousing.com for all maintenance issues or call us.
If you have an emergency, outside of normal working hours, you should contact your warden, who keeps a list of emergency telephone numbers and contacts. If you cannot locate your warden, or in their absence your deputy warden, and it is an emergency requiring the police, ambulance, or fire service then they should ring 999 and give details of the situation.
Our Wardens have been incredibly helpful to us over the last year and we are very grateful to them.
Scheme Meetings
Steve is organising meetings with groups of residents at individual schemes by Zoom. We want to find out what your concerns are, to see if we can help out, and what our priorities should be next year. It would be particularly good to hear from new residents
