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A school censored GCSE artwork because it showed lesbian couples kissing.

Stickers were slapped across Megan Angus’ “sexually explicit” drawing so it didn’t upset younger Laurence Jackson pupils.

The Guisborough school has apologised, admitting it may have been “overzealous”.

But the 16-year-old said: “I think it is homophobic.”

(Image: Facebook)

The teenager left the school last summer, but was furious when she picked up her work - which helped her land a B grade - on Tuesday.

“I can’t see why they censored it. When you go to an art gallery, they don’t censor them there,” she said.

“I wanted my work to be shown how I left it.”

But school bosses Blu-tacked seven “censored” stickers around the piece, which showed women kissing and holding hands in their underwear in front of the LGBT “rainbow flag”.

Explaining the drawing, Megan, who now works as a lifeguard, said: “We had to do an outsider piece and had five options.

“I did same sex relationships as they seem to be out of place in society.

“I wanted to get across that it shouldn’t be frowned upon and it shows girls can be together. It is something I feel passionate about.”

She said she was “proud” of the work, which took her 40 hours to create.

However officials have denied the decision not to display it in one of the Church Lane school’s art rooms during marking was homophobic.

(Image: Facebook)

“Due to the sexually explicit nature of some of the drawings in the student’s work, a censored strip of paper was Blu-tacked over these areas,” said a spokesperson.

“As a secondary school, we needed to be mindful of the impact this may have on younger students.

“This piece of art work contributed positively to the student achieving a good grade at GCSE.

“In no way was she discouraged from producing work of this nature and her artistic talents were celebrated by our art department.

“Laurence Jackson School is in no way homophobic; sexually explicit images of any nature would have been censored if displayed.

“In retrospect, we may have been overzealous in censoring some images within the piece, and for that we apologise for any offence caused.”

Last year, the school commended a male pupil who wore a skirt to class.