Three sets of twins at the same school celebrate straight A exam results

For Fraser Mccann, a pupil at Williamwood High School in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, exam season was even more stressful than most due to his sports commitments.

The 16-year-old secured an A in Higher English despite having to sit the exam while in Prague representing the Scottish Under-17 squash team at the European Championships.

“As performance athletes we are really well focused so we can compartmentalise our concentration easily.

“So when we were travelling it was all about the exam, which was on the first day of the trip,” he said.

“I was focused on making sure it went well and then I could concentrate on the squash. I was delighted when the results came in and hope to focus on a career in accounting or engineering.”

In the end the Scottish Under-17s finished sixth at the Championships in the Czech Republic, which he described as a “good result”.

He added: “My mum was a bit apprehensive about me sitting an exam abroad, but I was confident about the exam.” Three sets of twins from the same school have achieved straight As in their Highers.

Emma and Vivien Mcainsh, 17, Joseph and Michael Lowrie, 17, and Niamh and Roisin Kelly, 16, all attend St Ninian’s in East Renfrewshire.

All together they notched up 30 top grades, with sibling rivalry having played a part in the success of some of them.

Roisin Kelly said: “I would not have worked as hard if she (Niamh) hadn’t forced me to, so it actually came in handy.”

Emma Mcanish said: “I think it motivated us both to work harder.”

All the pupils want to carry on with their education, with the Mcainsh twins hoping for a future in dentistry.

Like thousands of other students across the country, the pupils received their results by text.

But it left one of the Kelly sisters on tenterhooks when her sibling’s message came through, and hers did not.

Roisin said: “I was really nervous because she’d (Niamh) done so well and if I’d got it after and it was awful then that would’ve been bad.

“I didn’t get my message until much later in the day, so it made it much more nerveracking and my sister was reassuring me that I would have got the same as her.

“When I eventually got the results, I was just so relieved.”

Emma Mcanish added: “We both got the text at the same time, but I was too scared to open mine. Vivien opened hers first and then ran through to my room, and once I had looked at my results we started celebrating.

“We were jumping up and down and our little sisters and parents came in to join us.”

It isn’t just birthdays the twins share – some of them were even taking exams for the same topics.

Emma and Vivien both did maths, English, biology, chemistry and geography.

Meanwhile, Joseph and Michael Lowrie studied chemistry, physics, biology, English and maths.

Michael said: “We didn’t know what each other had got so it was a bit nervous in our house, so we were delighted to have got the results.”