By Mikayla van Loon
Seeing double at Mount Lilydale Mercy College will be a common occurrence for the next six years with the largest cohort of twins to attend the school in its history beginning their secondary journey in 2025.
The 12 sets of twins started Year 7 on Thursday 30 January alongside 262 classmates, with four identical sets among them.
It makes nearly 10 per cent of this Year 7 cohort a twin.
They joined MLMC from eight different primary schools from across the Yarra Ranges, including Wonga Park Primary, St Peter Julian Eymard Mooroolbark, St Brigid’s Healesville, St Richard’s Kilsyth, Healesville Primary, Kinglake Primary, St Mary’s Mount Evelyn and The Basin Primary.
Already enjoying and settling into secondary school life, the students said it was nice having a ‘built in friend’ in their twin while navigating the new environment.
“I think it’s better to have someone, because if you need someone, then you have someone.”
Being a twin, the students said, often comes with a lot of questions about what that actually means.
“Who’s older?” and “can you read each other’s minds?” were the first two most common questions asked of them, followed by the boy, girl twins being asked if they are identical.
For identical twins Blair and Quinn, they said they will answer to each other’s names.
Some noted a competitive streak among themselves, others not so much but universal excitement for both food tech and PE classes could be seen among all 24.
To keep things easier for teachers but mostly for “their individual growth” each pair has been separated among the 11 Year 7 homerooms.
Year 7 Level Leader Rachel Berka said everyone so far has seemed really comfortable and well adjusted.
“We’re one week in today (6 February) and they’ve made a really good start. The year level seems to be settling in and it definitely helps when they’ve got a sibling to make that transition a bit smoother,” she said.
The graduating class of 2030 will spend their second week at the college getting to know each other better when they attend their first school camp in Alexandra.
