Twins at school...

[OhCrapOhDear]

I’m just musing this evening so forgive me if this sounds daft but...
If twins are at school within the same year (obviously), shouldn’t they be put into the same class together to lessen the risk of contagion? I’m talking primary age, not secondary. Surely if the family of twins were to test positive then both classes in that year would need to isolate rather than just the one if they were in the same class?

But you could say this about any siblings...

But twins are in the same year
At the same academic point of school. Wouldn’t placing them together lessen the risk? Obviously putting a yr1 sibling with a y5 sibling wouldn’t work.

Hmm, the twins in my class are together (!) but in different phonics sets - we are a year group bubble. And their brother is in a higher year group, which is also a bubble if 2 classes.
The whole thing baffles me! Bubbles really is just a fancy name but doesn't mean much in reality. I'm in a bubble, my child's in a bubble, we mix...

My twins are in separate classes. Class bubbles, not year groups. They aren’t even allowed to play together in the playground at break time!
It doesn’t bother me that they’re in different classes, in fact I prefer it. But I was just sitting here thinking, if I were to test positive then that is the whole year group that needs to isolate because of one family. Rather than just one class if they were together.

No because it's only the close contacts of the person with symptoms. So twin A is positive, their class (close contacts) and household (including twin B) isolate. Class of twin B only isolate if twin B also has symptoms.

@thanksamillion but what if I test positive? I’d just need to keep them off school and the rest of the year would carry on even though they’ve all been in contact with each other?

I honestly don’t understand how all this work, hence the post!

I always thought twins were in the same class unless parents asked for them not to be. When DD started school there was a set of triplets and two sets of twins as well as siblings 9 months apart all in the same class.

What if twin B is asymptomatic?

@notso not at our school! I initially wanted them together but after much to-ing and fro-ing I agreed they were better off separated. The teachers were right tbh. Much better off apart at school.

My twins share a desk! I feel a bit sorry for them, they've been stuck with each other for months and all the other kids get to share desk with a friend.

I think not. They should just be treated as siblings. Plenty of reasons to have them in different classes still stand.

I believe their is research that shows twins achieve much better educational and social outcomes when they are separated and therefore many schools have a policy of separating them if they have more than one class in a year group. I imagine the school didn't even consider the impact of corona when doing class lists or feel the risk is no greater than with other sibling in different classes and therefore not worth the long term impact being in the same class could have on their development.

This isn’t a post on whether twins should share a class during normal times. I’m just musing the outcome should someone in our household test positive. Is it right that it should affect a whole year group when it could be confined to just one class?

I would think it would be sensible given the reasons you have mentioned! My twins are in the same class anyway (at my choosing) but I would think that having them together would be beneficial due to already being in the same household?!

I totally agree btw, twins absolutely thrive more when separated at school in my experience. And I say that as someone who wanted them or together!

That doesn’t go for all twins though, some suffer terrible separation anxiety. There’s no easy answer, it’s between the parents and the teachers.

Bloody hell notso, there must be something in the water where you live!

@AreYouSiriusLupin my logic makes sense, doesn’t it? 😆 unless I’m missing something. Which is entirely plausible, not many of these rules makes sense to me!

@StatisticalSense Actually research shows that forced separation in twins can cause more issues. Twins can do well in the same class as well as in separate classes. In my opinion what works for one set of twins, won’t necessarily work for another. Schools shouldn’t have set policies on twins without looking at their individual needs and choices. My girls are in the same class and are doing very well socially and academically and they both want to be in the same class.... although this is all moot point as we are in lockdown in Melbourne, so they are currently in a class of 2!

@OhCrapOhDear I must admit I had thought of this too. I think it’s the same as siblings in different Classes though and it’s probably too much hassle to swap all the classes around.

I did think it may be down to the hassle of shuffling classes around. But surely it wouldn’t hurt for one class to have an extra child rather than disrupting all the pupils? As in classes of 31 & 29... I don’t think anyone would bat an eyelid, the only people who would notice would be the twins! Like I say, I’m not trying to force my kids together... I just thought it may lessen the risk of exposure!

TwiceAsNice22 I felt strongly about keeping mine together and it has paid of in our case- we had one twin who was very anxious about school in general for years (finally overcome that now!) and having her twin there hugely helped in our experience. However, as you and ohcrap said it can depend on the individual children. I have heard of one twin being dominated by the other in class or causing lots of chaos together

Luckily mine work well together and have their own best friends that do cross over on to each other's friendshio groups, which is nice (boy/girl twins). The teachers say it works well anyway- their typical school policy is to seperate twins unless expressed otherwise by the parents.

sorry excuse typos! Tired eyes.

And yea ohcrap what you say definitely makes sense- obviously wouldn't work with siblings from different year groups, but why not lessen some exposure if possible where twins are concerned.

"But I was just sitting here thinking, if I were to test positive then that is the whole year group that needs to isolate because of one family"

No, that's not how it works. If you test positive then both your kids need to isolate. Not their class

@dollypartonscoat see, that’s what I’m confused about... is that because the classes wouldn’t have had direct exposure (I.e Me)? What if my kids were asymptomatic though and spread it through both classes?

@AreYouSiriusLupin kind of the same for us, one twin was incredibly anxious and hid behind their sibling. But it turns out that separating them was the best thing as they have both flourished independently. I was honestly worried sick about it all! But I’m glad now. I did feel very pressured by the teachers though, but it’s turned out well.

Yes it is only those who are a close contact of a positive case.
So if you are positive then your children are a close contact and need to self isolate for 14 days
Their friends are a close contact of a close contact so in theory are fine
If your child then gets symptoms and a positive test THEN their close contacts isolate and potential bubble closes