John Graham Primary was abuzz on Saturday as fifty three teachers became learners at the a visual arts workshop to create a wetland food chain from two paper plates, old magazines and string.
The workshop was presented by the Frank Joubert Arts Centre iBhabhathane project, and sponsored by the Princess Vlei Forum as part of the Flight of Dreams Project, 2016. The Flight of Dreams aims to raise awareness about the birds and other wildlife at Princess Vlei.
The facilitators demonstrated how, with the help of wax crayons, a paper plate can be used to teach important elements of visual art including colour, form, line, pattern, texture and shape. The paper plates are then transformed into a mobile including a bird, fish and insect. This lessons covers both the Arts and Culture (visual arts) and the Life Sciences curricula for Intermediate Phase Learners.
Teachers attending the workshop were invited to participate in the Flight of Dreams 2016 project, which includes a parade and performance on 24 September at Princess Vlei, and an exhibition at the Grassy park Library. Children can bring mobiles created in class to feature in the parade, and/or display them at the exhibition.
In addition to the step-by-step demonstration, teachers were given a teacher’s package consisting of a workbook with all activities covered in the workshop (and more) as well as full lesson plans. At the end of the workshop there was a lucky draw in which nine teachers received prizes, including art books for the classroom and tickets to our fundraiser Remembering the Lux. The fundraiser is intended to raise funds to cover this workshop and other elements of the Flight of Dreams project.
The Forum would like to thank the fantastic team of facilitators from Frank Joubert - Liesl Hartman, Fabian Hartzenberg and Bev Bradnick. thanks also to Ms Beverley Johnson for allowing us to use the beautiful art room and science room at John Graham Primary School.

• Read more about The flight of Dreams Project here.

Over the past few weeks, learners at schools near Princess Vlei have been getting to know birds a bit better, thanks to the wonderfully creative environmental educationist Alice Ashwell.
    Organised as part of the Princess Vlei Flight of Dreams program and Nature Champion Garden program, learners from Lotus High, John Graham Primary, Levana Primary, Harmony Primary and Hyde Park Primary will be exploring key wetland bird species found at Princess Vlei, including the African Fish Eagle, the Pied Kingfisher, the Masked Weaver, the Sacred Ibis, the Crested Grebe, the Red-knobbed Coot, the Egyptian Goose, the Grey Heron and the Great White Pelican. In the lesson, learners discover what the birds eat, where they can be found, their height and weight and many other interesting things about them.
     At the end of this process, the learners will have an opportunity to celebrate these birds in a parade involving giant puppets, a performance and music through the streets of Grassy Park and around Princess Vlei. This will be held on 24th September - all are welcome to join. Read more about this here. If you are a teacher with learners who may be interested in participating, fill in this form or contact as at [email protected].

"The ants are gathering food at a dead plant"
This is one of many observations made by a Levana Primary group during our Nature Champion events at Princess Vlei this month, sponsored by the table Mountain Fund.
    In June this year, 130 learners from five schools descended on the Vlei to plant 475 indigenous plants at Princess Vlei (read more here). In August and September, these learners will be returning from to the vlei to check on their garden. 
   The children are each given a section to examine, and asked to make notes on the progress of the plants, and also to observe what other wildlife can be found on and around the plants. They have found praying mantises, lizards, lady birds, bees, butterflies, spiders, ants and many other insects.
   Some of the plants are doing well, but sadly many were stolen within a few days of being planted. We believe they were stolen to be sold - if any readers have been offered plants for sale under suspicious circumstances please let us know.
   We will add photographs to this album as the other schools come to do their observations.
  In addition to the fynbos planted at the Vlei, the project made R1000 availalbe to one of the participating schools, Lotus High, to plant and indigenous garden at the school. In the photograph below, Shafiek Isaacs from Lotus High shows where some of these were planted. Children bring grey water from their homes to water the plants.

* Read more about the Nature Champion Fynbos Garden here.

There was lively discussion at the Princess Vlei Forum General meeting held on July 14.  The meeting was called to update members on developments in the project to realise the community vision for Princess Vlei, and to provide guidance on the way forward.
   After a welcome by Philip Bam, Gary Stewart gave a recap on the progress we have made with the City since the mall was scrapped in 2014. This includes:

• Signing an MOA endorsing the Forum as community partner in the management of Princess Vlei in December 2015
• Finalising the Conceptual Development Framework for the area in May 2016.

    Gary also outlined some of the challenges going forward.
    Malcolm Campbell presented the City's finalised Conceptual Development Framework, which was based on the community vision presented to the City in March 2014, and provides a platform for the realisation of this vision. You can read more about this here.
    A number of questions were raised, highlighting the complexity of working with the City, and the need to maintain a vigorous presence to ensure that concerns about Princess Vlei receive attention from City officials and local Councillors.
    The meeting then divided into groups to discuss interest areas in taking the work forward at Princess Vlei. The Focus groups were: Environmental health and conservation, the market, heritage and recreational. A number of exciting suggestions were raised in these discussions. Download the minutes of the meeting for more
    In response to the discussion at the meeting, the management committee has proposed creating additional subcommittees/ focus groups to develop the work going forward, in addition to  our existing Schools and Technical and Planning committee. These are as follows:

• Fundraising
• Technical  & Planning: overseeing transformation of infrastructure etc at Princess Vlei; liaise with City on the planning process; liaise with City on management issues
• Security: Liaise with City and local Neighbourhood Watches and Community Policing Forums; strategise ways to improve security
• Market & Business interests: Create a business strategy for appropriate income generating activities at the vlei; Identify and liaise with relevant role players to generate ideas and capacity; filter and assess proposals; liaise with City to manage the collection of fees
• Schools: Liaise with local schools, teachers and relevant support organisations to ensure ongoing environmental and cultural activities to benefit school children;
• Environmental: Identify relevant role players; engage with City officials and partner organisations to ensure the environmental health of the vlei; organise community clean ups & planting
• Recreational: Identify relevant role players; draw up proposals/ schedule regular recreational activities at the vlei such as canoeing, walking/ running/ orienteering.   Liaise with relevant organisations to organise event
• Cultural /Khoisan memorialisation: Identify relevant role players; Convene a committee and/or discuss appropriate events and structures for Khoisan memorialistion; liaise with relevant City and National departments; work with Fundraising com to secure funds. Collect and archive oral history and other records.

We would like to invite all interested to participate in these groups, to ensure that the Forum can be an effective and representative community partner in the transformation and management of Princess Vlei. If you would like to join any of these please contact us or fill in this form. The minutes for the General Meeting can be downloaded below.

John Graham Primary was abuzz on Saturday August 20, as fifty-three teachers arrived to take part in a visual arts workshop to create wetland food chain out of paper plates.
The workshop forms part of the Princess Vlei Forum's Flight of Dreams project for 2016. It was sponsored by the PVF, and facilitated by a team from the Frank Joubert Arts Centre Ibhabhathane Project.
Teachers were taken through a step-by-step demonstration on how to use a paper plate and wax crayons to teach important elements of the visual arts curriculum, including form, line, texture, pattern and colour theory. The coloured plates, along with paper scraps and old magazines, were then transformed into a mobile featuring a bird, fish, and insect as a way of teaching children about wetland birds and food chains. The lesson covered outcomes from both the Arts and Culture and Life Sciences curricula.
Teachers were also presented with a comprehensive teacher’s package consisting of a workbook with all activities covered in the workshop (and more) as well as full lesson plans. As one teacher remarked, they could go back to the classroom and implement the lesson plans straight away without further preparation. At the end of the workshop there was a lucky draw, and several teachers won art books for their classrooms, or tickets to our fundraiser Remembering the Lux at the Baxter Theatre on September 3. This fundraiser will help to pay for this and other aspects of the programme.
Teachers who attended were invited to participate in other aspects of the Flight of Dreams Project. Mobiles created by the learners can be displayed at an exhibition in the Grassy Park Library later this year, and children can also bring their mobiles to the parade on 24 September. Please contact us if you would like to participate in this project.
The Forum would like to thank the wonderful team from Frank Joubert - Liesl Hartman, Fabian Hatrzenberg and Bev Bradnick, as well as Ms Beverley Johnson for making two beautiful classrooms available at John Graham Primary School.