Two other teenage girls at the school who play football in the boys teams and have adopted male names have asked to be addressed as “him”, rather than “her”.

Mr Fisher said: “Our boarding houses are co- educational in the day — but boys and girl separate at night into single-sex wings,” he said. “One of our students, however, has a single room in a boys’ boarding house wing this year. The other boys are aware this student is going through questioning their identity and they are not frightened or intimidated by that.

Fisher, who said he tries to avoid using terms such as “Hi guys” and “boys and girls”, in favour of “pupils”, added: “We are a progressive school,” he said.