Not one but two sets of quadruplets have started primary school in two different counties this week.

It was all hands on deck in the Kelly house in Co Offaly shortly before 9am on Thursday as Tom, James, Charlie and Luke got ready to join their older brother Matthew at St Coleman’s National School in Cappagh.

“It was hard enough to get them all ready but I had a lot of help,” their mother Anita said. “My husband David stayed home from work and I had their two grannies lending a hand. Tomorrow I will be flying solo.”

Ms Kelly is not daunted by the pre-school rituals that lie ahead and said that while some people might think having five boys under the age of six would be a challenge, she recalled having five under 13 months and said that was “a whole lot harder”.

However, keeping on top of the laundry and making sure their uniforms were ready to go each day would be “pretty tough alright”, she said.

The four boys were born in the Rotunda Hospital on February 28th, 2015 and ranged in weight from just over 1.2kg to 0.84 kg.

“They were pretty small and it is great to see them now all set for school,” she said. “There were no tears, not even from me. I reckon if I had started I would have set them all off.”

Five-year-old Limerick quads Amelia, Lucas, Mollie and Lily Slattery head off for their first day at Caherline National School. Photograph: Press 22

Limerick quads

There were some tears in the Slattery house in Limerick where another set of quads marked a major milestone by heading off to primary school for the first time on Wednesday.

Lucas, Lily, Mollie and Amelia, aged five, skipped into Caherline NS with barely a look back at their parents, Grace and James.

“They were super excited. They couldn’t wait to start and see their friends and teacher. It was the same when they went to pre-school, they ran in, not a bother,” Ms Slattery said.

However, she said she had the tissues out.

“Even though I’m so happy for them to go off and they are so ready for it, it’s kind of a mixed feeling. It’s not that I want them to stay at home with me or anything like that,” she added.

“It’s emotional seeing them go off and to see how far we have come; thinking back to the pregnancy and I didn’t even know if they would survive or not, and especially Amelia and her CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia). We were told she wasn’t going to survive. To see them all going off now is just amazing. They are a real miracle.”