News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A BOY of 10 has swapped trousers for a dress and gone back to school as a girl after spending miserable years “having to live a lie”.

The pupil was born a boy but has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and “came out” as female over the summer.

She returned to primary school in a girl’s uniform and the headteacher held a special assembly to explain to pupils.

But some parents condemned the move. One said: “The head said there was a kid who was a girl trapped in a boy’s body. This kid will be bullied now.”

But the child’s mum, 36, yesterday blasted the bullies who called her a freak. “She is within her mind a girl but she has a boy’s body,” she said.

The Worcester mum added that her child had wanted to be a girl since she was only two years old, but the pressure of going to primary school increased her torment.

“She had to lie about what she got for Christmas and say a football or an Action Man when in fact she got sparkly shoes and a Barbie. Everything was a lie.”

The mum also told how her child was reduced to tears after being abused in a shop when cruel families branded them a “freak family” with a “freak child”.

But she added: “It’s not a phase. It’s not a choice – what child would choose to be completely miserable? I don’t expect people to understand, but I want her to be left alone.

“Some people need glasses. Some need a wheelchair, my daughter needs to dress like a girl because she is a girl.”

The school head said: “We operate an inclusive policy and work to ensure all our pupils have the support they need.”

The child has not had any medical treatment, her parents will decide how to approach the issue in later years.