Twins galore to start prep at schools around Melbourne

A whopping five sets of twins will start school at Caulfield South Primary this year — and it’s not the only inner-south school seeing double, with several Prep classes expecting sibling pairs.

Caulfield South Primary prep teachers Clare Tyers, Penelope Townley and Luisa Scarmozzino will have their hands full when five sets of twins start at the school this week.

Prep teachers at Caulfield South Primary will be seeing double when five sets of twins start school this week.

The large twin contingent means one in eight students starting Prep there is a twin, with about 83 little ones enrolled to start on Thursday.

Principal Gayle Yardley told the Leader in her 40 years as a teacher, she’d never seen so many twins in one year level.

“It’s quite extraordinary,” she said.

“I think the most sets I’ve had in a year level is two, I don’t recall ever having more than that.”

Twins Chelsea and Dylan, Sascha and Lexi, Benjamin and Isabella, Joel and Jade and Benji and Mikey are excited to start school at Caulfield South Primary this week.

Among the pairs are four sets of fraternal twins and one set of identical twin boys.

Ms Yardley said the school would work with parents to determine if the twins would be placed in the same class.

“We tend to keep twins together in Prep but parents sometimes request to split them up later, usually in Grade 2 or 3,” she said.

“Sometimes one twin needs to be separated from the other to help gain independence, but it’s something teachers and parents will work out together throughout their schooling.”

Twins Mina and Marwah Ademe, Jesse and Sunny Bowler and Michaela and Olivia Gardiner will start at Port Melbourne Primary on Thursday. Picture: Josie Hayden

She said two sets of prep twins would start school in different classes at the request of their parents.

Twin fever has also hit schools in Port Phillip and Bayside, with four sets starting prep at Middle Park Primary, three sets at Port Melbourne and two sets at Hampton.

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Port Melbourne’s triple-twin treat makes up five per cent of the prep cohort, with a total of 102 youngsters set to start school there this year.

From Thursday, 81,400 Victorian preps will begin their education in government, independent and Catholic schools across the state.

All preps in government schools will receive a free library bag with copies of Silver Buttons, The Dress-Up Box, Where is Galah?, Hello from Nowhere and Edward the Emu,as well as activities, a ruler, water bottle, booklets and stickers.

An estimated 1000 preps are expected to start prep in government schools in Glen Eira this year, as well as 800 in Bayside and 700 in Port Phillip.