Thirteen sets of twins are about to start school in the same area

Teachers might have a hard time getting names right in the Inverclyde area, as 13 sets of twins are about to start school there. Th ese 26 children will all be heading to school September, and administrators can’t believe the odds. Amazingly, 164 sets of twins will now be taught in the Inverclyde Council area, leaving locals to think there’s ‘something in the water’. Despite the genetic implausibility, parents of the bunch aren’t too worried about teachers telling the children apart – especially considering that not all of them are identical. Arlene Cairns, mother of fi veyear-olds Kendal and Skye, says her daughters don’t look too similar. ‘One has red hair and one has brown hair. One has brown eyes and one has blue eyes, but there’s defi nitely something in the water here because last year there was even more twins,’ she said. Councillor Jim Clocherty, education convener at Inverclyde Council, said: ‘Th at gives us a twinning rate of 18 per 1,000 births, which is well above the Scottish average of 15 per 1,000, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were among the highest in the country.’ Provost Martin Brennan said: ‘Every year I am surprised at the signifi cant number of twins we have leaving nursery and heading for primary school. It seems to always run into double-fi gures and this year is no exception. ‘I am particularly pleased, as a former teacher, to be able to welcome them as they prepare to join their new classmates in their new schools and I am sure they will have a huge amount of fun over the coming years.’