17 sets of twins start school in same town

By Ed Cullinane & George McCracken via SWNS

Teachers are doing a double take as 17 sets of twins are set to start school in the same town.

The group met for their pre-school dress rehearsal at St Patrick’s Primary in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland, ready to start school in late August.

St Patrick's, alongside Ardgowan Primary, will take the largest number of pairs of the group - taking three groups each.

Remarkably, this is the second time this has happened in a decade, with 19 twin pairs starting school in the same year in 2015.

The bizarre phenomenon has seen Inverclyde nicknamed "Twinverclyde," with 147 sets of twins having attended local schools since 2013 - an average of 13 per year.

Depute provost at St Patrick’s Primary, Graeme Brooks, said: “It has become an annual tradition in Inverclyde, or Twinverclyde as we’ve become known, to welcome our twins into primary one.

“Excitement is definitely building for the start of the new term next week and what better way to look forward to that than seeing the pupils here looking resplendent in their uniforms.

“It’s also a good bit of fun for parents too – and a handy dress rehearsal ahead of the real thing next Friday.

“We’re lucky to have so many incredible schools here in Inverclyde with every one renewed or extensively refurbished, including St Patrick’s which was rebuilt and opened in 2016, thanks to the council’s unprecedented quarter of a billion pound investment in our schools estate.

“But schools are nothing without the children, staff and families who make them and it’s great to see some of the next generation coming through here today and I wish them all the very best as they embark on the next stage of their education journey.”

Among the pairs of pupils set to start school were five-year-olds Anna and Aaron Fulton, who are enrolled at another local school - King’s Oak Primary.

Anna said: “It’s such a big day, after a long wait for them to start it’s come in too quickly almost.

“Seventeen sets of twins is something else, it must be something in the water.

“They’re really excited to start school, I held off putting them in for a year because I thought it’d be better for them with COVID and they’re so ready this year.

“They’re going to be in separate classes which I hope gives them a wee bit of independence and space.”