Staff and pupils are seeing double after five sets of identical twins started in the same year group at school – forcing them to wear name badges to help tell them apart.
Teachers at De Aston School, in Market Rasen, Lincs., have been left scratching their heads trying to distinguish between the 10 twins who all started last month.
Charlotte and Emily Kaur, Catherine and Elizabeth Ormian, Jake and James Murphy, Jack and Joshua Davis, and Adam and Jack Richards began the school term on September 4 along with unidentical twins Jade and Lauren Pennell.
Defying odds of 10,000-1, the 11-year-old pupils – who were born within four months of each other in 2001 – make up 10 per cent of the entire Year Seven intake.
According to the odds from bookmaker Paddy Power – this is just as likely as guessing someone’s pin number or picking a four-leaf clover first time.
Teachers at the state-funded comprehensive school have even ordered metal pin get badges for the twins to wear to help teachers and pupils distinguish them.
Victoria Davies, Head of Year Seven, said: “We are looking to get little name badges for their blazer lapels so we can tell who is who.
“We first thought of just having their initials but then we realised that wouldn’t work because we have a Jack and James and Jack and Joshua.
“It won’t make them stand out too much from other pupils as others have the same if they are prefects or for sporting achievements.
“In my 12 years at the school I have never known any more than one set of twins in a year group.
“I have managed to tell the difference between four of the six – but I’m still working on the other two.”
Year seven tutor Libby Humphrey, who has two sets of twins in her form class and teaches English to another two sets of twins, said: “When I found out I had two sets of twins in my class I thought that was ridiculous.
“It’s shocking. A couple of the girls wear their hair differently but other than that it’s really tricky to tell them apart.
“It’s completely unprecedented. None of the teachers have seen anything like this – it’s not something we’re used to.
“There’s only ever usually one set – there must have been something in the water that year.”
And while some of the twins have chosen to stay together, others have asked to begin their new school in different tutor groups.
Twin Catherine Ormian, 11, said: “My sister and I are in the same group.
“We have lots of the same interests, but usually we don’t dress the same – at school we have to.”
Headteacher Ellenor Beighton said: “They’re all delightful young people who we treat as individuals and they seem to be enjoying their time here at De Aston, just as we’re enjoying having them here.
“We have obviously had twins at the school before, but never this many in one year group.”
De Acton school is a 1,000 pupil state-funded secondary comprehensive school and sixth form for pupils aged between 11-19.
