Double the fun for day one

While the first day of high school can be daunting, six sets of twins at Kelmscott Senior High School had someone to share the journey with.

The 12 students started Year 7 this week marking the beginning of their secondary education.

Among them is Samuel and Abigail Adams who are part of the school’s specialist agriculture program. 

Speaking to Channel 9 on their first day of high school, the twins said they each have different academic strengths and were excited for the year ahead. 

“I really like English and this year I am starting to do agriculture so I’m very happy about that. I quite like maths,” Samuel said.

Zoe Iceton said it was nice to have her twin Lilly by her side and have someone to talk to.

“I think it is really fun because I feel like I have two lives,” Lilly agreed.

Kelmscott Senior High School principal Mark Jeffery said it was wonderful for the twins to have each other for support, and also have their individual traits recognised.

“It is highly unusual. In my 30 years I have not seen six sets of twins in a cohort of 250 students. The benefit for them is they’ve got a sibling around to help them out and for parents I think they will be pretty happy to get the two kids out the door at once,” he told Channel 9.

“The advice heading in to high school is to take every opportunity that comes along, find their interests, grab it with both hands and really make use of all the school has to offer.”

Kelmscott Senior High School isn’t the only school where teachers are seeing double; Bassendean Primary School had two sets of twins and one set of triplets start their very first day of Kindergarten.

Bassendean Primary School principal Jacqueline Varris said it was a rare occurrence to have that many twins and triplets in one year group.

“We are excited to welcome new and familiar faces across the school, and we are looking forward to a very busy and exciting year of learning and growth,” she said.

These are just a few of the 324,650 public school students who filled classrooms across WA for the first day of the 2024 school year.

Two brand new public primary schools opened their doors for the first time, Henley Brook Primary School and Jilbup Primary School, bringing the number of public schools to 832.

There are currently 60,532 registered teachers in Western Australia, while more than 360 graduates took up their first teaching jobs in public schools.

The Department of Education’s successful international recruitment campaign also saw 103 teachers appointed to public schools across the state, the majority of which were in regional schools.