A transgender girl aged 11 was shot with a BB gun by a boy in school.

Her mother claims the gun attack was the culmination of a sickening five-month campaign of violent bullying because of her gender.

She claims vile bullies have:

*Thrown water over her

*Spat at her

*Kicked her to the floor

*Told her she would be taken to the school’s gym and beaten up ‘because she’s a boy, not a girl’

*Abused her and called her names on a daily basis

In another previous incident before the shooting, the girl’s mother said cruel classmates wrote ‘tranny’ and ‘freak’ and drew lewd images of penises on the cover of one of her exercise books.

The metal ball bearing - fired at the girl as she waited to go into a classroom at 9.20am last Wednesday by a boy who is also in Year 7 - hit her in the shoulder.

She wasn’t seriously hurt and didn’t need hospital treatment after teachers were alerted.

Police attended the Catholic school in Greater Manchester and are investigating.

The school’s headteacher has confirmed to the M.E.N. that the boy involved has been permanently excluded.

(Image: Courtesy of the girl's mother)

And the charity Stonewall, which campaigns for the equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the country, has been brought in by school bosses to work with and train staff and pupils.

The girl’s mother and a charity which supports parents of transgender children have told how she’s been left ‘severely traumatised’. The M.E.N. has agreed not to identify the school involved, the girl or her parents.

Born a boy, the girl’s mother said a transition began two years ago. She has not undergone any surgery but now dresses as a girl and has taken a girl's name.

She attends the school as a girl and started last September.

Transgender, which is often shortened to trans, applies to a person whose gender differs from the gender they were assigned at birth.

They often transition from one gender to another, changing names and dress.

Medical transition applies to hormone therapy or surgery.

The girl’s mother said she arrived at the school last Wednesday for a meeting over bullying to find her daughter sat ‘rocking’ after the shooting.

She said: “If the pellet had gone into her face or eye there is no telling what might have happened. She could have been killed or lost an eye. What if it had been a knife?

“The boy brought the gun into school in his bag. My daughter said he aimed it at her and shot. He did not say a word.”

The girl’s mother said she had been attacked several times at the school.

“Not a day goes by without her being attacked, insulted or threatened with violence,” she added.

“A fortnight ago, a Year 10 boy accosted her and said that he was going to take her into the gym and beat her up - and that he was allowed to do this because she was a boy not a girl. The shooting was an accumulation of lots of events. I would say that everything has happened because of her gender.

“It is a hate of who she is and it is awful. My daughter has socially transitioned. She was assigned male at birth but two years ago, she told us that she was not male. She said that she was born a female.”

The school’s headteacher said she has now returned to school and is being supported.

The headteacher said: “The matter has been treated very seriously and the pupil who fired the BB gun has been permanently excluded. We wish to send a message out to our community that this behaviour is completely unacceptable and will result in removal from our school. The police are involved and we are cooperating fully.

“The victim is a transgender pupil and sadly there have been incidents of bullying before this latest incident. We have worked with our pupils to respect and accept people of different sexual orientation and identities and will continue to do this. We have enlisted the support of a national organisation to help us further with our training of staff and pupils and support for our transgender pupils. We have met with the parents of the pupil to apologise and to see what we can do further as a school.”

Susie Green, chief executive officer of Mermaids, which supports parents of transgender children, claimed reports of attacks and abuse towards transgender children have increased after recent negative media coverage.

She said: “While we cannot be sure that one caused the other, it is a huge coincidence that these incidents closely follow damaging rhetoric that instead of supporting parents of trans children, seeks to undermine and vilify.”

Police have confirmed officers were called to the school and are investigating.