Multiple sets of twins in reception class

[Dixy30]

Hello
Bit of an odd one this.
My child's no1 school place choice for a class of 30 children will definitely include 4 sets of twins (all have older siblings at school) plus 2 other ages have applied!

It is a one form entry school so 30 places, with one teacher and one TA. Of the 8 guaranteed places, 6 are boys and all born may- August.

Any idea what the LA will do as surely will require additional support for these children as twins and boys esp are sometimes known to be a bit behind?

Such an unusual situation!

TAMBA, as the UK national organisation representing multiple families, seems a pretty fair source.

Are twins 'known to be a bit behind'? Mine certainly aren't, not by a long shot

'I was mainly wondering of the social / behavioural associations of so many in this category - ie them bringing arguments from home to class, and half the class having a twin and half not!' I don't understand this either Just treat them the same as anyone else that has a sibling or even that doesn't. We didn't get or expect extra support.

Sorry language delay is caused and linked to literally masses of things- stress in pregnancy and TV being two of them.

Directly attributing being a twin and a boy one at that to being behind and making assumptions simply due to being a twin is wrong.I have never heard of it.There is no extra funding for children simply fir being a boy twin.

Genes,environment etc play a far bigger part.Indeed my sister' twin boys were prem.They are incredibly bright,incredibly articulate and fluently reading at 5.

Being prejudiced against any child us wrong.

Have now read your update post OP.

I think you've got a fair point, worrying about the social interaction of lots of twin siblings, and how it might impact on the rest of the class. All I can say however is that all three sets in our Reception (and there were only 15 of them altogther, so they were over 1/3 of the class) interacted really well with their peers, and have continued to do so.

'Insider' school gossip is not a reliable source of information. Whether true or not, it's extremely unprofessional, which has to lead to the conclusion that the person it's coming from isn't doing their job properly. I have come across at least two TAs who are guilty of this, but no fully qualified teachers. Admittedly it's hard not to talk freely when you've become friends socially, which is often the case in isolated rural communities, but generalisations and hints can very quickly turn into the full scale worryfest that you've clearly ended up with.

I almost couldn't believe what I was reading then! You may find that having so many sets if twins is an advantage....in our family it has added a very healthy dose of warm and helpful competition. My two are very close and can explain things to each other as they are studying the same thing at the same time. They also don't like it when the other has improved in a certain area so will strive to get better themselves. They are high achievers and provide consistent support to each other. I'm not sure you should believe in stereotypes. I'm an August born also and a straight A student. Personally I think it's all down to self-confidence and a lot of hard work, not just the circumstances in which you were born.

"and that children born late in the school year do worse at school."

Utter bollocks. My DD is August born. Has always been years ahead from aged 2, is currently in year 6 doing year 8 and 9 work. Smashed 11+ pass mark by about 50 points and has recently been teaching herself some Thai, Arabic and German.

That would be remarkable if 12 out of 30 children were twins.

I wonder what it would mean for the social dynamics of the class.

One of the boys in my year three son's class is a twin, and he's seemingly at the top of the class.

I taught a year 1 class that had 3 sets of boy twins, 1 set were identical, the other 2 weren't. All were summer birthdays and the class only had 22 children. And I only had TA support in the mornings.

There were no problems with there being lots of twins, boys or being summer born. All of the twins (including the identical set) had distinctive personalities and they didn't actually play with each other particularly. if anything having 3 sets of twins made it less novel for the other children.

I think you need to wait and see if there are any difficulties caused by this situation rather than jumping to conclusions.

At this thread

OP What a ridiculous assumption that because these twins are summer born boys they will automatically be behind.

My boy hadn't ever held a pen or pencil when he started school. Rather than needing additional support he could write a sentence by half term.

My August born does not need additional help and is in a higher set than many of the September and October borns.

You are making huge assumptions.

6 sets of twins in one class may be some kind of record and certainly noteworthy but you'll have no idea how it affects the class or their support needs until they all turn up because whatever the statistics on likely delays etc unless you have a statistically valid number of twins in the class (I assume not) then statistics are irrelevant.

I have a child who in theory should have been low support winter born boy (sorry girl would have been "better" apparently) but the reality that no-one would have been able to gossip about in advance is that he was a 26 week premmie born under 1kg in a semi-developed country, was institutionalised immediately for a year then adopted into a country with a different language. He didn't hit any developmental targets until he was 4 and started school not long after with language delays and no reading/writing skills.

I suspect that this biggest problem you will have is much reduced playdates if you have a single as in my experience children with siblings close in age invite fewer friends over than those without.