Teachers are doing a double take as 17 sets of twins are set to start school at one Scottish council this week.
The group met for their preschool dress rehearsal at St Patrick’s Primary in Greenock, Inverclyde, with 15 of the 17 sets of twins in attendance.
St Patrick's, alongside Ardgowan Primary, will take the largest number of pairs of the group - taking three groups each.
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However, this isn’t the first time this has occurred.
Back in 2015, 19 sets of twins began the same school year.
The phenomenon has seen Inverclyde dubbed 'Twinverclyde', with 147 sets of twins having attended local schools since 2013, with an average of 13 per year.
What in the Mary Kate and Ashley?!
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Depute provost at St Patrick’s Primary, Graeme Brooks, said this had become an ‘annual tradition’ for the Scottish town.
“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,” he said.
“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.
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“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.”
Five-year-old twins Anna and Aaron Fulton are among the siblings set to start school this month and are enrolled at King’s Oak Primary.
Their mum Arlene 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.”
The mother added that she held off enrolling them at a school due to Covid-19 but admitted they are extremely ‘excited’ to learn from inside a classroom.
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“They’re going to be in separate classes which I hope gives them a wee bit of independence and space,” she continued.
It comes after six sets of twins joined year eight at St Mary’s College in Northern Ireland, as per The Guardian.
Charisa Bossinakis