TEACHERS at a village school could be forgiven for seeing double - their pupils include four sets of twins.

Tanfield Lea Infant School near, Stanley, in County Durham, has only 154 pupils, but no less than eight of those are twins.

And to make matters worse, the headteacher is an identical twin whose sister works at the nearby pre-school from where many of the children have come.

But, much to the teachers' relief, only one of the sets of twins is identical - four year olds Ben and Jack Stewart, who have just joined the reception class.

The other children are Lauren and Jessica Hall, four, Jake and Emma Burns, five, and six year olds Jonathan and Sophie Goodrum.

Headteacher Joy Weightman said: "In all my 26 years as a teacher and a head I've never known so many sets of twins in a school all at once.

"It is very unusual in such a small community as ours.