STAFF and parents of pupils at a South Lakeland primary school could be forgiven for rushing to an optician with a case of double vision.

For St Mary's CE Primary at Kirkby Lonsdale has five sets of twins on roll - including three in the nursery class.

"It is quite a high percentage of the children in school," laughed Sarah Oldroyd, headteacher at the Kendal Road school.

"The nursery class has 22 pupils, so three sets of twins is quite a lot."

One set of the nursery's twins - Lucy and Megan Park - are identical, while the other two sets - Louisa and James Harris and Ava and Elliott Natlacen - are girl-boy.

Mrs Oldroyd admitted she had never seen three sets of twins in one class, in her entire 23-year career.

Also in the school's reception class are non-identical girls, Georgina and Francesca Ormston, and in year four are identical pair, Izzy and Lola Ashton-Fitch.

Although Cumbria County Council does not hold records of twin numbers in schools, it is believed to be one of the highest numbers the county has seen in a primary school.

The situation is all the more remarkable given that the school is considered 'below-average sized' by Ofsted and has just 205 pupils on roll.

This means one in 34 children is a twin, compared to the British average of one in 62.

"They've caused a lot of interest," added Mrs Oldroyd. "It's the fact we're such a small school as well, so five sets of twins is unusual."