It is a complex issue that has pitched schools against parents.

And as MPs attempt to tackle the isolation and bullying faced by transgender pupils, one teenager has chosen to speak out over the years of anguish he endured because teachers failed to accept he was a boy trapped in a girl’s body.

In a frank and moving interview, Jamie Bennett has revealed how he was isolated from other pupils, forced to wear a skirt and endured a six-month police investigation into an allegation of sexual assault.

'Needless hurt': Jamie Bennett, pictured with his mother Lynne, has revealed how he was isolated from other pupils, forced to wear a skirt and endured a police investigation into a false allegation of sexual assault

And after years of emotional turmoil, when he finally built up the courage to ‘come out’ as transgender, he was sent to see a lesbian who gave him a sticker saying: ‘I’m gay, get over it.’

Jamie, now 18, is one of the 91 per cent of trans boys who experience harassment or bullying at school. He says the most painful moments came when he was ostracised from the girls’ changing rooms and forced into isolation.

‘The girls didn’t come near me because they said they were feeling uncomfortable,’ Jamie says. ‘So then the teachers put me in a side room on my own.’

He says he had first felt he was in the wrong body at the age of six, when he persuaded his mum to let him cut off his ‘Shirley Temple’ curls and give him a short, spiky ‘lads’ cut.

At primary school he started playing football with boys and realised aged ten that he was attracted to girls.

Speaking from their home in Manchester, his mother Lynne, 54, said she initially thought Jamie was going through a ‘tomboy’ phase.

But she came to accept who he is and now says: ‘Parents should take legal action so their children don’t have to go through the hell and hurt that Jamie went through.’

Last month, The Mail on Sunday reported parents had lodged a complaint with a North West school for not treating their eight-year-old, who was born female, as male.

They put me in a side room of my own

Jamie first started to struggle with his gender identity while at Philip High School in Whitefield, where he balked against rules requiring him to wear a skirt. He put on shorts underneath, and says: ‘It just didn’t feel right at all wearing a skirt.’

After many clashes with teachers, he was ‘isolated’ as a punishment and given an ultimatum: wear a girl’s uniform or leave school. Eventually he was allowed to wear navy trousers, but not black ones like the boys.

He tried to explain his sexuality to fellow pupils. ‘I was trying to say I wasn’t a lesbian as that didn’t feel right, even though I wasn’t identifying as male yet.’

His passion for sport grew and he played girls’ football, hockey and rugby, but there were problems in the changing rooms. His PE teacher banned him from wearing a vest top under his kit, which he wore because he felt self-conscious about his body while changing in front of girls.

Anguish: Jamie is pictured above age 10 when he became attracted to girls

And female pupils began saying they were uncomfortable undressing in front of him.

One girl accused him ‘of sexual things'. Teachers believed the claims, and he was interviewed at a police station over the incident, but eventually they decided to take no further action. He says: ‘I went through an absolute nightmare for six months and the school didn’t say anything – no apology.’

Head Chris Trees said last night he needed ‘clear guidance’ from the Government on how to deal with transgender pupils, adding: ‘No one wants to give offence to anyone, but we don’t know what is expected of us.’

After Jamie’s mother and stepfather separated, he moved to a new school, Copley Academy in Stalybridge, where he called himself Vic, wore a boy’s uniform and steered clear of sport as changing rooms reminded him of his previous ‘hell’.

But he ran into problems again when, aged 15, he told his mentor that he felt like a boy, wanted to be called ‘he’ and needed support.

‘But what did they do to help me? They brought in a lesbian. That just pooh-poohed everything I’d told the mentor. This woman even produced stickers saying “I’m gay, get over it”, but I said I’m not gay. I never spoke to the mentor again.’

Head Matthew Jennings insisted last night: ‘The LGBT group would have been the right people to give Jamie the right support. We’re not necessarily responsible for the person the group sent to speak to him.’

Jamie was finally able to live as a man after leaving Copley and is now giving talks at schools on transgender issues. He is taking testosterone injections and hopes to be accepted for surgery to start the full transition to male this summer.

Susie Green, of transgender group Mermaids, said: ‘Make no mistake, Jamie is one of many. We need immediate changes to stop children being put through these nightmares.’

A department of education spokeswoman said: 'The government is committed to ensuring that everyone is given the same opportunity to succeed and schools must ensure no pupil is singled out for less favourable treatment because of who they are.'