18 June 2018

Many of the questions that come up around keeping multiples together or apart at school are practical - such as what is available locally - while others concern the children's characters and relationship and the way they interact.

But while parents fret over the options, what do the children think? We thought it would be fun to chat to some multiple birth children about all this so we interviewed primary school twins Reece and Noah and secondary school triplets Ben, Emma and Christina. Here's what they told us…

Reece and Noah

Reece and Noah Cole are 11 years old and have an older sister called Molly. The twin brothers previously spent half the week at nursery in the same classroom, and the other half at preschool, where they were in separate classes. They're now both attending primary school in Yateley, Hampshire and are in separate classes.

Their mum, Diane, said: “We chose to separate them for primary school as they were quite dependent on each other, but Reece more so. We wanted both boys to become more independent. They're now both quite outgoing and happy. They have separate friends but obviously spend a lot of time together at home.”

Reece: “Our school has a big playground so we can run around a lot. I like to play with my own friends but I do see Noah in the playground.

I enjoy doing Maths and English and writing stories. I want to be an astronaut when I'm older. We learned about space in year five and I really enjoyed it.

I'm looking forward to big school and making things in Food Technology lessons. I like cooking.”

Noah: I like Maths, English and Science. I also like computers and  learning about coding.

Normally at school I hang out with my own friends but we do play together sometimes. Quite a lot of my friends are going to our secondary school so I'm looking forward to it a lot.

I like that I don't really see Reece much at school but we get to see a lot of each other at home.”

Ben, Christina and Emma

I can deal with life without my sisters right there next to me – it's freedom!

Triplets Ben, Christina and Emma Wigley are also 11 years old and go to school in Farnham, Surrey. They were in the same class at primary school but are now coming to the end of their first year in secondary school, which they have spent in separate classes.

Their mum, Lucie, explained: “Our primary school's policy was to separate twins as there are only two classes per intake. However, Emma, Christina and Ben were the first triplets there. We discussed this with the headmaster who welcomed our input and the children were put into one class.

“They were never dependent on each other but it would have been difficult to explain why two of them were together whilst the other was separated at such an early stage. They thrived at school, and continue to do so at secondary school.