The mother of a transgender six-year-old girl says the controversial Safe Schools progamme turned her depressed son into a happy daughter.

Briella Carmichael began her transition a year ago after becoming so upset at being identified as a boy she tried to rip her penis off.

Since starting at a Safe School in Melbourne this year, Briella found other children no longer shunned her and were more accepting of her gender, mother Kirra said.

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Safe: Briella Carmichael had made new friends since starting at a primary school which offered the Safe Schools programme

Comfortable: Although she was shunned by other kids at kindergarten, Briella (pictured) now has plenty of friends at her primary school

Safe Schools is a nationwide educational programme that aims to reduce homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools.

Parents Kirra and Scott Carmichael said the programme at Cranbourne South Primary School in Melbourne had a huge impact on their daughter's happiness.

'All the kids were really excited for her to come to school and Safe Schools said ''What would you do if you had seen Briella sitting by herself or feeling sad?''.

'The kids were like ''I will go up and cuddle her and say she can play with me'',' Mrs Carmichael told Sunday Night.

Mrs Carmichael added that parents who did not accept her daughter's transition should mind their own business.

She said: 'She's a little girl. What is in between her legs is her business, nobody else's.'

'Nobody's business': Briella's mother Kirra hit out at parents who criticised the Safe Schools programme as 'disturbing'

Happy: Briella was so uncomfortable being identified as a boy that she tried to rip off her penis. After transitioning to Briella she had become a lot happier, her mother said

In February Mrs Carmichael described the heart-wrenching moment she knew her son Baylin was meant to be a girl.

WHAT IS THE SAFE SCHOOLS PROGRAMME? Safe Schools is an educational programme that aims to combat homophobia and transphobia. It aims to equip schools to provide inclusive environments for gay, intersex and gender diverse students. The Safe Schools programme is taught in hundreds of schools across Australia. Critics of Safe Schools say the concepts it teaches are inappropriate for young children in primary school. Source: Safe Schools Coalition Advertisement

'She started to harm herself downstairs. It was over a period of time and I don't know how long for.

'She tried to rip (her penis) off and it swelled up and got infected,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'She was also off school for a week for being dehydrated.

'She stopped drinking because she didn't want to use the boy's toilets. She was so dehydrated her lips were all chapped.'

Briella's parents started attending transgender information sessions before they decided to see a gender specialist with their child.

She was then diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

'At home we were calling her Briella and the family started using female pronouns - she requested us to. Slowly over time we started buying girl stuff. It made her so happy,' Mrs Carmichael said.

'Disturbing': Mother-of-four Cella White (pictured) said Safe Schools taught children about overly-sexualised concepts

Excited: Since starting at a Safe School Briella (pictured) had made new friends and had become a lot happier, mother Kirra said

Despite the positive effect Safe Schools has had on Briella, some parents remained strongly opposed to the 'disturbing' programme.

Melbourne mother-of-four Cella White said Safe Schools taught children about highly sexualised concepts they had no right to know at such as young age.

Ms White was so opposed to the programme she had withdrawn her children from their primary school when it started to teach it.

'Safe schools has highly sexualised content and I don't believe that that's the schools place,' she told Sunday Night.