The Daily Telegraph

Pupils welcome first transgende­r head

- By Lydia Willgress

A HEADTEACHE­R believed to be the first to transition from man to woman while in post has told how “there were no sniggers” in the corridors when she returned to school.

Claire Birkenshaw went back to work at Ashwell Academy in Hull, East Yorkshire, this week after a six-month absence.

Since parents were told in July, staff, guardians and pupils were made trans-aware to help prepare them for the 48-year-old’s return.

Miss Birkenshaw – who used to be called Michael – told the Times Education Supplement: “Straight away, one kid was, ‘Hi, miss!’

“It was brilliant. There were no sniggers; it was just superb. It was a really nice morning.”

She told the school’s chair of governors in September 2015 that she had gender dysphoria and was planning to live as a woman. She has undergone hormonerep­lacement therapy since then and expects the full transition to take another two to three years.

Miss Birkenshaw, who was born in Bury, Greater Manchester, said she had felt female since she was about four years old and, despite going through puberty and becoming head boy at secondary school, felt trapped in her masculine identity.

She hopes by making the transition she can become a role model for transgende­r students and teachers, having been inspired herself by Yorkshire-based radio presenter Stephanie Hirst, who transition­ed in 2014.

She said: “These children in schools need someone who is out there. Stephanie macheted the way for me.

“I’m hoping to machete the way for somebody else, and then the next person comes along and the next person – and hopefully in future they will only need tweezers.”

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