Lockdown Looms: Reggie's Birthday Party (One)

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The story covers topics such as masks, social distancing, home schooling, vaccinations, bereavements, chaotic supermarket scenes and food shortages.

One of Alexander's main joys from teaching is inspiring the next generation. He hopes to inspire future doctors, writers, musicians, scientists, etc. There is also an emphasis on teaching his students not to limit themselves to one part of life. He says everyone can do amazing things, but it is just that people don’t lean into that side as much as they should. The book also touches on fears surrounding the Covid vaccine. “I am aware that vaccination uptake is considerably lower in some demographics within the BAME community,” Alexander said.

The COVID-10 pandemic has been very hard on everybody and a new way of living has taken some getting used to. Children especially have struggled and have been affected educationally, emotionally and with life development in general. Mr Alexander is hoping his book will be used by other schools and has already received supportive messages about the book from headteachers and librarians and the impact it has had on their learners. The aim was to write a book that would offer hope and benefit children’s mental health, said the author, who said he discussed the characters’ feelings with his pupils, teaching them vocabulary to express their own emotions with more accuracy.

Alexander received praise for his book and the positive impact it had on school children in the United Kingdom.

Alexander says, “I think more personally to me for what I've taken away from writing the book is that anything is possible because writing this book has changed my life completely. One minute I was teaching, the next minute, I was on the biggest news stations here: BBC News, ITV News, Sky News, Guardian Newspaper. It literally changed my life overnight.” Although Banji had started writing other children’s books before, he felt compelled to finish Reggie’s story for his year 3 class – to whom the book is dedicated. During his book tour, Alexander developed a group called Banji’s Class. Forty five students from nine different schools in London make up the group. The group’s main focus is acting, dancing, and singing with a little rap mixed. The group falls in line with Alexander’s love of music and his former aspiration to be a musician himself. He says there is no greater feeling than helping someone realize they can do something they didn’t think possible, and that is what his experience has been with Banji’s Class.

We celebratedthe Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday 6th May with activities and events in school on Friday 5th May. Alexander also recalls the negative impacts of the pandemic he saw reflected in his students. He mentions higher levels of anxiety, gained weight, and countless hours online as the main factors that affected his students. Alexander says, “Children were looking at things online and not being happy with themselves because they're comparing themselves to the sort of forced reality that they're seeing online.”Covering topics including masks, social distancing, home schooling, vaccinations, bereavements and food shortages, the book was written “to allay the fears of my learners surrounding the pandemic, help them to understand what they were going through and facilitate discussions around mental health and wellbeing,” explains Banji. Mr Alexander tells the story through the eyes of a primary school aged child and gives credit to his friend Reggie for the inspiration. Banji’s teaching career started as a student at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, where he undertook a placement in a school with disadvantaged pupils - an experience that Banji says prepared him fully for his career in the classroom. “I think the opportunity to train and do my placement at a very challenging school really set me in good stead for the rest of my teaching career and gave me the skills needed to teach anywhere,” he explains.