TEACHERS in one local authority area will be seeing double again this week as 13 sets of twins start school.

It means 164 sets of twins will now be taught in the Inverclyde Council region, well above the Scottish average.

The primary one twins gathered at the new £7 million St Patrick’s Primary in Greenock, the latest new-build school created under the council’s £270 million programme of investment in its school estate.

For the past 10 years there have been 775 registered births a year in Inverclyde, with an average of 14 sets of twins starting primary school every year.

Councillor Jim Clocherty, education convener at Inverclyde Council, said: “That gives us a twinning rate of 18 per 1000 births, which is well above the Scottish average of 15 per 1000, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were among the highest in the country.”

Provost Martin Brennan said: “Every year I am surprised at the significant number of twins we have leaving nursery and heading for primary school.

“It seems to always run into double figures and this year is no exception.”