Meet the twin 15-year-old Bedford schoolgirls with IQs in the top one percent of the British population

Twin Bedford schoolgirls who have ‘always been gifted’ have been accepted into a society for people in the UK who have the highest IQs.

Ashley and Mia Webb, who live in West Hunsbury but go to school in Bedford, took Mensa exams, which are designed to test the two sides of the brain, in September this year.

The 15-year-olds were both accepted into the society after they ranked within the top one percent of the British population.

Ashley and Mia's dad, Martin, said: “They’ve always been marked as gifted.

“Whenever we have parents evenings, it’s always assumed that they are having extra tuition, but they don’t. They wouldn’t have time.

“I bought four home Mensa exams a year ago, then during lockdown it gave them something to do at home.

“They passed the home tests and were invited to do the proper exam at Mensa.”

The duo travelled to Birmingham to sit the exams, which last for around two hours, with one being diagram based and the other one measuring verbal reasoning ability.

Participants, who have to be at least ten years of age, have to rank in the top two percent of the population for one of the exams to be invited to join Mensa.

Both Ashley and Mia were ranked within the top one percent so have been invited to join the society.

Although they were accepted after succeeding on different exams, showing their individual strengths.

Martin added: “I’m extremely proud of them.

“They aren’t particularly competitive, but they wanted to do it for their own benefit.

“It will be useful for them when they are applying for university.”

Despite only being GCSE age, the twins are studying to take a Russian A-Level and are also looking at schools in the area to study post-16.

Once they have finished their A-Levels, both girls hope to attend university.

Ashley is interested in coding and computers and Mia hopes to own her own business.