Taking the register is a little more tricky, but one school is celebrating having 20 sets of twins on the roll.
The Grange School in Hartford, near Northwich, Cheshire, achieved that distinction when four new pairs enrolled this month.
The Grange School, Cheshire, says it has so much experience teaching twins that it specialises in looking after them
That means that roughly one in 28 of those attending the 1,140-pupil school in Cheshire is a twin.
The Grange says it has so much experience teaching twins that it specialises in looking after them.
Ariel Leese-Jones, whose four-year-old girls, Athena and Bianca, have just started at the school, said her daughters felt more comfortable with other twins in the playground.
"They are in the same class and this seems to have worked really well," she said. "There's been no starting-school trauma as it's been a case of waking up with your best friend then going to school with her.
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"Having said that, they are different personalities and they have also made different friends."
Stephen Bennett, the headmaster, said his staff always treated pupils as individuals and were not afraid to separate brothers and sisters if they felt they would benefit.
"Some twins, especially when starting school, seem to flourish better with the close support of their brother or sister. Others are keen to stop being one of a pair as soon as possible. Just because twins start off together, doesn't mean they remain that way.
"The golden rule, of course, is to treat them as the individuals they are. Forget they are twins, even if they look alike." But Mr Bennett admitted that teachers were sometimes baffled.
"Form teachers very rarely get the twins mixed up, but it certainly can happen.
"We have one pair of twins who are so alike that even their brother sometimes gets them mixed up."
Fees start at £6,060 a year at the school but there is a 10 per cent discount for siblings.
Nationally, there has been a steady increase in multiple births, attributed to fertility treatments such as IVF. At present, one in 34 babies born is a twin, compared with one in 52 in 1980.
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Eating Junk food whilst pregant & breastfeeding - obese kids
Mothers who eat junk food during pregnancy and breastfeeding may be putting their children at risk of overeating and developing obesity, according to a study funded by the Wellcome Trust and carried out at the Royal Veterinary College, London.
The research suggests that pregnant and breastfeeding women should not indulge in fatty, sugary and salty foods under the misguided assumption that they are "eating for two".The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that rats fed a diet of processed junk food such as doughnuts, muffins, biscuits, crisps and sweets during pregnancy and lactation gave birth to offspring which overate and had a preference for junk foods rich in fat, sugar and salt when compared to the offspring of rats given regular feed. The research team behind the study believe the findings have implications for humans.Obesity is a major cause of disease, associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. According to a report by the World Health Organization(2), around 1.6 billion humans were classified as overweight worldwide in 2005 and 400 million were obese. Obesity affects populations increasingly earlier in life with over 20 million children under the age of five being classed as overweight."Our study has shown that eating large quantities of junk food when pregnant and breastfeeding could impair the normal control of appetite and promote an exacerbated taste for junk food in offspring," says lead author Dr Stéphanie Bayol. "This could send offspring on the road to obesity and make the task of teaching healthy eating habits in children even more challenging.”Controlling appetite is complex, involving hormones which signal to the brain to regulate energy balance, hunger and satiety (feeling of fullness). However, feeding is not only a matter of regulating energy balance; it is also a pleasurable experience that involves “reward centres” in the brain, such that the combination of pleasure with feeding may occasionally override the normal regulation of satiety. Previous research has shown that junk foods rich in fat and sugar inhibit the satiety signals while promoting hunger and stimulating the reward centres."Exposure to a maternal junk food diet during their foetal and suckling life might help explain why some individuals might find it harder than others to control their junk food intake even when given access to healthier foods later in life," explains Dr Bayol.Professor Neil Stickland, a co-author on the study, who heads the research group at the Royal Veterinary College, believes that mothers need to be made aware of the risks associated with a poor diet."The government is trying to encourage healthier eating habits in schools, but our research shows that healthy eating habits need to start during the foetal and suckling life of an individual," says Professor Stickland. "Giving children better school dinners is very good, but more needs to be done to raise awareness in pregnant and breastfeeding women as well. Future mothers should be aware that pregnancy and lactation are not the time to over-indulge on fatty-sugary treats on the misguided assumption that they are 'eating for two'."
The research suggests that pregnant and breastfeeding women should not indulge in fatty, sugary and salty foods under the misguided assumption that they are "eating for two".The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that rats fed a diet of processed junk food such as doughnuts, muffins, biscuits, crisps and sweets during pregnancy and lactation gave birth to offspring which overate and had a preference for junk foods rich in fat, sugar and salt when compared to the offspring of rats given regular feed. The research team behind the study believe the findings have implications for humans.Obesity is a major cause of disease, associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. According to a report by the World Health Organization(2), around 1.6 billion humans were classified as overweight worldwide in 2005 and 400 million were obese. Obesity affects populations increasingly earlier in life with over 20 million children under the age of five being classed as overweight."Our study has shown that eating large quantities of junk food when pregnant and breastfeeding could impair the normal control of appetite and promote an exacerbated taste for junk food in offspring," says lead author Dr Stéphanie Bayol. "This could send offspring on the road to obesity and make the task of teaching healthy eating habits in children even more challenging.”Controlling appetite is complex, involving hormones which signal to the brain to regulate energy balance, hunger and satiety (feeling of fullness). However, feeding is not only a matter of regulating energy balance; it is also a pleasurable experience that involves “reward centres” in the brain, such that the combination of pleasure with feeding may occasionally override the normal regulation of satiety. Previous research has shown that junk foods rich in fat and sugar inhibit the satiety signals while promoting hunger and stimulating the reward centres."Exposure to a maternal junk food diet during their foetal and suckling life might help explain why some individuals might find it harder than others to control their junk food intake even when given access to healthier foods later in life," explains Dr Bayol.Professor Neil Stickland, a co-author on the study, who heads the research group at the Royal Veterinary College, believes that mothers need to be made aware of the risks associated with a poor diet."The government is trying to encourage healthier eating habits in schools, but our research shows that healthy eating habits need to start during the foetal and suckling life of an individual," says Professor Stickland. "Giving children better school dinners is very good, but more needs to be done to raise awareness in pregnant and breastfeeding women as well. Future mothers should be aware that pregnancy and lactation are not the time to over-indulge on fatty-sugary treats on the misguided assumption that they are 'eating for two'."
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