It was the middle of summer in Sydney. Christmas had been and gone, and the mercury was heading for a sticky 32 degrees on the morning of January 30, 2012, when four sets of twins in crisp new school uniforms met each other for the first time.
Their parents had brought them to Parklea Public in the city’s northwest at 10.30am so Herald photographer Wolter Peeters could take their pictures ahead of their first day of kindergarten.
The four sets of twins at Parklea Public in January 2012: Brody and Charlize Martyn, Tina and Jana Grkavac, Aleena and Andrew Macfarlane and Alyssa and Michael Makhoul.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“They can’t wait to start,” Slagjana Grkavac, the mother of Tina and Jana, told reporter Kim Arlington.
After a great deal of thought, Grkavac decided to have the girls placed in separate classes. Another mother, Jizelle Makhoul, hoped her children, Michael and Alyssa, would “become self-reliant and develop their social skills separately”.
Michael Makhoul, now 17, did not necessarily see those benefits on that first day. “I was really nervous and scared to go to school because of leaving mum and Alyssa,” he said.
Michael was distressed about being separated from his family, so a teacher took him aside to calm him down before steering him into the classroom. As his mother departed, five-year-old Michael found himself facing school alone.
Together again: The twins replicate their positions on their return to Parklea Public School at the end of their schooling.Credit: Wolter Peeters
With the benefit of hindsight, he can now see the initial discomfort was worth it as he learnt to be more independent.
“I wasn’t really amazing at making friends, so I just followed and hung out with [Alyssa’s] friends, but [primary school] taught me how to make my own friends, and life skills and social skills.”
Alyssa similarly remembers feeling apprehensive at first. But by day’s end, her attitude had changed. “I remember just loving it,” she said.
Alyssa went to Glenwood High with her brother in year 7 but switched high schools in year 10 to attend Rouse Hill Anglican College. There, she flourished in the smaller school environment.
Michael went on to be school captain at Glenwood High. “I don’t have any regrets because I took all the opportunities that presented themselves,” he said.
Jana and Tina Grkavac also went to Glenwood High. Their 13 years of school were made memorable by the friends they made, as well as primary school support teacher Miss Singh, with whom they have spoken in the years after Parklea Public.
“She was always caring and supportive,” Tina, 17, said.
Unlike Michael and Alyssa, they can’t remember their first day of kindergarten. “I don’t remember much from primary school,” Jana said. The best part of high school was their friends, the worst was the seemingly constant stream of exams and assignments.
The Herald’s invitation to the twins to return to Parklea Public to mark the end of their schooling shows how quickly 13 years can fly by.
The jungle mural is still there, but as Aleena Macfarlane, 18, notes, her perspective on it has changed. “I went back and the wall was way smaller than I thought it was,” she said.
She was not separated from her brother Andrew in kindergarten and has fond memories of primary school. “I felt like I belonged, it was really nice … there wasn’t anything to worry about.”
The way they were: Andrew and Aleena Macfarlane, Jana and Tina Grkavac, Alyssa and Michael Makhoul and Brody and Charlize Martyn.Credit: Wolter Peeters
High school was a slightly different story. The pandemic hit when they were in year 8. Online learning and a lack of face-to-face social interactions compounded a general sense of doom.
“I remember just, like, lots of phone calls with my friends … It just felt like something bad was about to happen,” Aleena said.
Brother Andrew shares her fond memories of primary school. He was good at maths but did not like sitting the weekly spelling tests or doing public speaking.
Charlize Martyn, 18, was the opposite. She enjoyed learning how to spell while show and tell was a favourite. Another memory that quickly comes to mind is the year 1 teacher who taught her how to spell the word “because”.
“She would sit down and sing it to our entire class, every day on repeat,” she said.
The Martyns went to high school at Marian Catholic College in Kenthurst. Charlize is set to return to a primary school as she has enrolled in a bachelor of primary teaching.
Looking back at the photo, however, she recalls how anxious she was. “I remember being grumpy. Doing things for the first time really scares me, I think that shows in the photo a bit,” she said.
Without taking sick days, a NSW student completes about 864,000 minutes of school over 13 years. Sitting in class sometimes, the clock seemed to tick so slowly.
Charlize says: “It went very quickly now I think about it. Everything was just a click.”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.