STAFF at a Basingstoke school are really seeing double after four sets of twins started in the same year group.

With 90 children in the reception clas-ses at Kempshott Infant School, statistically there should only be one set of twins, if any.

Michelle Baker, a reception teacher at the school, in Old Down Close, said: “We have not had this many before. We usu-ally have some. I think there’s something about Basingstoke – we do seem to get quite a lot of twins.”

The twins – Freddie and Harry Oliver, Millie and Jasmine Lewis, Emma and Oliver Richards and Heidi and Harry Zureck – are all four-years-old. Other than Heidi and Harry, all the others are in separate classes.

Mrs Baker said: “It’s about taking into account if they are happy being apart. Jasmine asked to visit Millie and that was fine. The doors between the classes are open.

“But it’s nice for them to go in separate classes because they have different stories to share at the end of the day, and they can build their independence. But if the parents think it’s too distressing then we are happy to have them together.”

Jasmine and Millie are the only identical set of twins. Their mother, Teresa Lewis, from Old Kempshott Lane, also has a 10-year-old daughter.

The 39-year-old said her twins were conceived naturally. She added: “It’s very hard work but it’s also very rewarding. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Twins run in Mrs Lewis’ family, as her grandmother on her father’s side was also an identical twin.

She said: “Sadly, my nan didn’t see them because she died after my first baby was born. But it was quite special for my dad to know it’s carried on in the family.”

Kempshott Infant School is even more significant for naturally conceived twins Freddie and Harry, whose mother Sarah went into labour whilst in the school for an induction day for one of her two older daughters.

The 34-year-old, from Brighton Hill, said: “I didn’t realise it was labour or I wouldn’t have stayed.”

She added: “Freddie and Harry are very close. They argue at home, but when they are at school they miss each other. Harry spent quite a lot of time in hospital when he was younger and I think it’s made Freddie more independent.”

Stacey Richards, mother of Emma and Oliver, said: “To have four twins that age in one school is quite unusual.” The 33-year-old, from Sunflower Close, Kempshott conceived her twins naturally.

Emma Zureck, 32, from Kempshott Rise, decided her twins Harry and Heidi should be in the same class at the school.

She said: “They are each other’s best friends and going to school is enough of a challenge, so splitting them up would be a bit harsh.

“They are different any way because they are boy and girl.”