Talented twins win secondary school places aged 9

(EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION/PA)

Like thousands of primary school children, Paula and Peter Imafidon will today find out the name of their secondary school. Unlike their classmates, the twins will be ripping open the envelope safe in the knowledge that they will be two years younger than their peers and have already passed their maths A-levels.

The achievement of the nine-year-old prodigies, who set a new world record when they glided through their A-levels at the age of seven, is all the more remarkable given that they both attend a normal state primary school in one of London's more deprived boroughs and, in contrast to many precociously talented youngsters, have not been tutored at home.

As a result, the twins and their parents, from Walthamstow, north-east London, will be spared the ordeal faced by an estimated 100,000 children during today's National Offer Day when they find out they do not have a place at their first-choice school. Instead, Paula and Peter have received provisional offers from 12 leading schools eager to secure their attendance.

Their father, Chris, a Nigerian-born eye specialist, said he did not expect the age difference with their classmates when they start at their new school to unduly affect them. He said: "Because they are twins they have each other so they are always able to help and support each other. We're delighted with the progress they have made."

The twins' eldest sister, Anne-Marie, 20, set a record for the youngest person to pass A-level computing at 13 and won a scholarship to America.