William Whiskerson visits the Isles of Scilly to explore life in a typical seaside location.
The video
William Whiskerson, mouse explorer. Finds adventure, 'round every corner. Where will he go? Who will he meet? His amazing adventures will make you squeak. William Whiskerson, mouse explorer.
Narrator: Here comes William Whiskerson in his amazing travelling globe.
William Whiskerson: Greetings adventurers, I am William Whiskerson the famous mouse explorer.
Narrator: Where has our intrepid mouse explorer landed today? William in on an island. An island is a piece of land surrounded by water.
William Whiskerson: Cheese phone, reveal my location.
Narrator: The cheese phone shows William where he is in world.
Cheese phone: Hi William! Today, you're on the Isles of Scilly - right at the bottom of Great Britain off the South West tip of Cornwall.
William Whiskerson: The Isles of Scilly? That's a funny name.
Narrator: William takes a look around. Three are 150 islands in the Isles of Scilly, but only five are inhabited and have people living on them. William came in his globe, but most people get to the islands by boat plane and even by helicopter.
William Whiskerson: Look I've got a message coming through on my cheese phone.
Zoe and Isaac: Hello William.
Zoe: I'm Zoe.
Isaac: And I'm Isaac.
Zoe and Isaac: Welcome to our island.
William Whiskerson: Lock the location cheese phone.
Narrator: The map shows William where to meet Zoe and Isaac. William sets off to find them exploring the island as he goes. He sees wild ponies grazing on the grass… a little goose…
Narrator: And what's he spotted now?
William Whiskerson: Say cheese!
Zoe and Isaac: There he is!
William Whiskerson: Here they come. Pleased to squeak you Zoe and Isaac.
Zoe and Isaac: Please to squeak you too William.
William Whiskerson: Can you two show me your island?
Zoe and Isaac: Yeah!
William Whiskerson: Explorers away! Is this where you live?
Zoe: No, my mummy has holiday cottages here.
William Whiskerson: Oh so who stays here?
Zoe: Visitors like you.
Narrator: Zoe and Isaac's mum and dad run holiday cottages where tourists come and stay when they visit the island.
William Whiskerson: What a lovely view!
Narrator: Bryher's main village which they call town is very small and only has a few houses. There are hardly any cars and it doesn't take long to travel from one side of the island to the other. Zoe and Isaac take William to see the village shop.
Zoe: This is our island shop.
Isaac: And post office.
Narrator: William takes a look around.
William Whiskerson: Maps very useful. Cheese! Squeak-a-licious!
Narrator: The shop gets some of its supplies locally but things that aren't produced on the island have to be delivered by boat from the mainland.
Isaac: This is the post office.
Narrator: Isaac is helping William send a post card to his Auntie Cheddar in London.
Post officer: Thank you.
William Whiskerson: Thank you!
Narrator: It's picked up by the post lady and travels by boat and then helicopter before it reaches the mainland. There are lots of interesting rocks on the island. The rocks are made of granite and they were formed over 300 million years ago.
Zoe: This is Droopy Nose Point!
William Whiskerson: That's a funny name. Why is it called that?
Zoe: If you look carefully you can see, it looks a bit like a droopy nose.
William Whiskerson: Oh! Hey, and that one on top looks like a seal!
Zoe: Yeah.
William Whiskerson: I wonder if we'll see any real seals.
Zoe: You might they're quite common.
Narrator: Further out in the bay two seals are bobbing about in the water. Can you see them? William Zoe and Isaac enjoy playing on the beach in the sunshine.
William Whiskerson: It's October but it's lovely and warm here. The Isles of Scilly feel warmer because they're surrounded by an ocean current called the Gulf Stream. This flows from a very hot part of the world and raises the island's temperature. Strong winds also blow into the island from the Atlantic Ocean which is between Great Britain and America. Zoe and Isaac spend a lot of time playing on the beach. They like to look for crabs under rocks.
William Whiskerson: What is it?
Zoe: It's a crab.
William Whiskerson: Oh keep it away from my nose! We should put him back where we found him.
Narrator: Lots of rubbish that is bad for the environment gets washed up on the beach like plastic bottles rubber gloves and old bits of fishing net. The name for this is flotsam and jetsam. Isaac and Zoe are building a den to play in so are collecting shells and wood. William thinks it's the perfect hideout for an adventurer.
William Whiskerson: It's so much fun here on your island!
Zoe: Do you want to come to school with me and Isaac tomorrow?
William Whiskerson: Yes please. Explorers away!
William Whiskerson: So where is your school?
Isaac: Over there.
William Whiskerson: But, how do you get there?
Isaac: By a boat.
William Whiskerson: By a boat?!
Narrator: For the people living on the five main islands, almost everything is done by boat. There's an ambulance boat, a post boat, a ferry boat, even a school boat. And here it comes ready to pick them up. All the children from the island make their way to the quay. This is the place where the boat arrives. Zoe and Isaac travel to school by boat every morning. The school is on the island opposite called Tresco. The jet boat is very fast and it only take five minutes to get there. On the way they sometimes see dolphins.
William Whiskerson: Wow!
Narrator: William's enjoying his journey. Zoe Isaac and William arrive on Tresco and walk to school. William thinks their school looks brilliant. Quick! The bell's ringing. It's time to go into class. Not many children live on the nearby islands, so the school only has two classes one for the infants and one for the juniors. Zoe and Isaac are in the junior class. It only has 12 children in it. William meets Zoe and Isaac's teacher, Mr Wilson.
Mr Wilson: Good morning children. We have a really special visitor in class with us today, and his name is William Whiskerson.
William Whiskerson: Please to squeak you everybody.
All: Please to squeak you too.
Narrator: William joins in class. Takes a look around… and goes out to play. William has a really fun day at school but now it's time for him to go. Zoe and Isaac have drawn a lovely picture of him on their island.
William Whiskerson: Look, it's me on Bryher Island. Thank you, it's mousey marvellous. Squeak you later Zoe and Isaac.
Zoe and Isaac: Squeak you later William.
Narrator: Can you remember where William went today? William visited a group of islands called the Isles of Scilly. He landed on Bryher where he met his friends Zoe and Isaac. Can you remember all the places they visited? They visited the island shop the beach and then they travelled to school. How did they get there? They got there by boat. Zoe and Isaac drew William a beautiful picture to remember his visit.
William Whiskerson: Time to fly explorers! We're off on another adventure.
Narrator: See you soon William!
Video summary
Download/print a transcript of the video.
William Whiskerson travels to the Isles of Scilly, a group of islands in the English Channel.
He meets two children whose family run a holiday cottage business on the Island of Bryher. They visit key local landmarks, discover Bryher's wildlife and see how goods and people are transported to and from the island. William then visits the children's school, travelling by boat to the neighbouring island of Tresco. He is surprised to discover that the school only has twelve pupils.
This episode introduces children to life in a remote seaside location where tourism is a key industry.
Teacher Notes
After viewing the clip, encourage pupils to spot as many islands as they can on a map of the British Isles.
Can the children find the Scilly Isles? Pupils could go on to draw and paint pictures of the Scilly Isles, using freeze-frames from the clip as a source.
They could include sketches of their favourite Scilly Isles animals, too.
Ask: "Why do you think only five of the 150 Isles of Scilly have people living on them?"
Collect pupils' suggestions and guide them to consider what you would need to live happily on an island - things such as a good water supply, farmland, shelter, and a suitable place to make a harbour, or land a plane or helicopter.
Challenge the children to draw maps of their own imaginary islands.
They should include on their maps everything they think people would need to live happily.
This clip will be relevant for teaching Geography.
This topic appears in KS1/KS2 in England and Northern Ireland, Knowledge and Understanding of the World Foundation Phase in Wales and Early/1st/2nd levels in Scotland.
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