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We arrive a good half-hour before the meeting is due to begin, and instead of going to the drama studio where it is going to take place, we go to the main school office. Mr Page, the school’s IT teacher, is waiting for us.

My parents and I are shown to the media suite. It’s a classroom fitted out as a small TV Studio, which is used for teaching Media Studies. We are shown into the control booth where on-screen is a picture of the empty stage where the school governors will be sitting.

Mr Henry walks into shot and states, “Hello. Testing, one, two, three, four. Can you hear me okay?”

“We can hear and see you clearly. Are you receiving us?” Mr Page replies.

“Yes, I can hear you fine. Did I see Jasmine and her parents arrive a few minutes ago?” Mr Henry asks.

“Yes, they are here now,” Mr Page answers and we say hello over the microphone in front of us.

Mr Page explains the setup to us. We will spend the meeting in the control booth. The meeting is being filmed and we will be watching the direct feed from the cameras. Mr Henry has the remote earpiece normally used by the camera operators to hear instructions. This way we can give him information without anybody else hearing, and he can ask us questions without revealing my identity.

It isn’t long before people start turning up for the meeting. In addition to the twelve governors, I estimate there are around fifty spectators consisting of teachers, parents and students.

Mr Henry calls the meeting to order, “Good evening, and welcome everybody to this special governors’ meeting. This meeting has been called to discuss issues related to school policy and in particular, how it relates to one of our students. Now I know a number of people in this room know the identity of the individual in question, however, I must ask that the student isn’t mentioned by name. The school has a duty to protect our students, and revealing their name could put them in danger. We also have a duty to protect the privacy of a minor.”

One of the parent governors, Mrs Baxter, then takes over, directing questions towards Mr Henry. She starts by asking, “Why is the administration allowing a boy to dress as a girl and disrupt the school environment by openly flouting uniform rules?”

“The uniform rules aren’t being broken,” Mr Henry replies. “The current school dress code was brought into effect eleven years ago, and has been reviewed every three years since. In order to make sure that all school polices meet diversity and equal opportunities standards, all references of gender are excluded wherever possible. For this reason, we don’t have separate dress codes for male and female students. The girls can come to school wearing trousers, which a large number do, or indeed, boys are fully allowed to wear skirts if they so wish.”

There is a projector set up at the front of the room, onto which the school website is being displayed. The rules are brought up and the paragraphs highlighted to demonstrate the point.

“There have been a number of instances in the last few years where male students have attended wearing traditionally feminine attire without issue,” Mr Henry explains. “For example, six months ago one of our male year ten students broke his leg in several places. Due to the nature of his injuries, he was given permission to wear tracksuit bottoms, as his normal school trousers wouldn’t fit over his plaster cast. However, the student still found it awkward to get the loose fitting leggings over the cast. After a few days of frustration, he decided it would be a lot easier to get a skirt on and off, so opted to wear the feminine garment instead.”

“Several months before that we had a group of five male students raise money for charity by coming to school in skirts for a week,” Mr Henry adds. “In both these cases, no school rules were broken, and the disruption to school activities was minimal. While there was some initial novelty with each case, it didn’t prove to be a problem. I have no evidence of any problems because of the uniform policy or its application.”

“Why is a boy being allowed to use the girl’s changing and toilet facilities?” Mrs Baxter asks.

“The student in question is a male to female transsexual in the process of switching genders. It is inaccurate to refer to her as a boy. Although born male, she is now more feminine than masculine. The student has been examined by Dr Truman,” Mr Henry states, gesturing to the doctor, on the governing board as a member of the community, who nods. “Following that examination, and an interview with Dr Lambert, we have concluded that the student should be regarded as a girl.”

“That does not answer the question. The obvious course of action would be to exclude the student from the changing facilities and make alternative arrangements,” Mrs Baxter replies, “My understanding is that this student was only examined a fortnight ago, several weeks after the start of term. Why was this person given access to the changing facilities in the first place?”

“Initially, we did not realise that the person in question was actually male,” Mr Henry states, “For those of you who didn’t attend the last meeting or read the minutes, I need to explain a couple of incidents that occurred over the summer. During the school holidays, a former student hacked into the school network and implanted a malicious virus into our systems. A large number of records were damaged and the net result was that we had to retype a large amount of data into our systems in a short space of time from incomplete paper records. You may also remember that we had a fire here a few months ago that destroyed the school offices. We managed to restore most of the records in time for the start of the year, but we weren’t able to recover fully all our data and there have been a number of errors found in the records.”

Mr Henry pauses to sip some water, and then continues, “On the first day of term, we had to correct the records of twenty-three of the new students. The majority of errors related to having the wrong address against the students, but there were also a number of spelling errors on names. This particular student has only one letter different between the male and female versions of her name. The person looked convincingly feminine, and given that we had already corrected a number of typos, we assumed that this was another data entry problem, compounded by having entered the male name by mistake; the typist automatically put ‘M’ into the gender field.”

“Are you honestly saying that you were unable to tell if you are looking at a boy or a girl?” Mrs Baxter asks sarcastically.

“I thought you might ask that,” Mr Henry declares, “please can the volunteers from the ‘A’ Level Drama class step forward?”

Six sixth form students make their way from the back row of seating to the front of the room. Three boys line up on the left and three girls on the right.

“We have here three girls and three boys. However, two of the students are currently disguised as the opposite gender,” Mr Henry explains. “My question to you and the audience, here and online, is which of the girls is a boy, and which of the boys is a girl?”

Mr Henry then conducts a show of hands for each of the apparent boys to indicate whom the audience thinks is the girl. These are combined with the votes cast via the web interface from the online viewers. Mr Page combines the scores and reads the percentages back.

The first masculinely dressed individual has short red hair and acne. The persons face is fairly square, the body being thin and straight with no obvious feminine curves.

The second person is muscular, the shirt being pulled tight round bulging muscular arms. This individual is the tallest of the three and broad-shouldered with dark black hair drawn into a short low ponytail.

The third supposed male in the line-up has long shoulder length hair loosely flowing round their oval-shaped face. The clothes being worn are baggy and hide any clues as to the body shape. The slightly slumped shoulders and bad posture looks to be slightly forced. This person is definitely the most feminine appearing of the three, but I suspect that this is too obvious to be the girl.

It would appear most of the audience have fallen for the trick as seventy percent opt for number three, with a quarter opting for number one and only a few people choosing the middle option.

There is an audible gasp when the tall masculine figure steps forward and introduces herself as Sophie. She undoes the shirt and slips it off revealing that the muscular arms and torso are actually padding. Removing the pad from her chest reveals an ample cleavage in a strapless bra.

The exercise is then repeated for the line-up of girls.

It is a much harder task to distinguish between them, as all three are very similar in appearance. Each of them is wearing the school uniform of polo shirt and knee-length skirt. They are all around the same height, only a few inches separating them. They all have bare, hairless legs and arms, and each has a noticeable hourglass figure.

I look closely at the faces, or at least as well as the screen I am looking at allows. All three have similar facial shapes, they all have long brown hair and delicately-shaped eyebrows. I know all the tricks and clues to look for, but even I can’t tell which girl is the imposter.

The votes are collected and it becomes immediately obvious that nobody else can tell either as the vote is split reasonably evenly between the three.

“Would the boy in the group please step forward and identify himself?” Mr Henry asks.

The person on the far right steps forward and removes the wig from his head to reveal a crew cut. Reaching into the top of his shirt, he pulls out two foam breast forms from the bra beneath.

“Thank you, Stuart, I think you have proved the point,” Mr Henry declares. “It isn’t possible to determine gender from simply looking at somebody. The student in question is equally as feminine-looking, and passes easily as a girl.”

I wouldn’t say that I pass that well, I have to work at it still, but I admit I haven’t been read yet by people who don’t know me. The only trouble I have had so far is from people who are aware I’m male.

“I take your point. That explains why the mistake could have been made in the first place, but why wasn’t it immediately corrected at the earliest opportunity?” Mrs Baxter responds.

“It was,” Mr Henry replies. “I didn’t think it much point trying to verify anything with the student, as if they were deliberately lying then they would continue to do so. I tried to get in touch with the parents, only to find that the contact details were corrupted.”

“I added it to the list for later verification and correction. This pupil comes from one of our regular middle school intakes, and wasn’t the only pupil to be joining from the same source. I therefore expected that if the student previously attended as a boy, then they would be recognised by classmates and would soon be identified as an imposter,” Mr Henry adds. “That didn’t happen. Therefore, I assumed there wasn’t a problem. I didn’t want to question any of the students and cause further embarrassment over the already stressful situation. By the time that the person had been verified as male from previous records, the pupil was already attending as a girl, and had participated in physical education lessons.”

“That explains why the student was initially granted access, but why wasn’t the student removed when the mistake became known?” Mrs Baxter counters.

Mr Henry answers, “On discovering the problem, a meeting was called involving all the girls who had been sharing the changing room during lessons with the student in question. This provoked a candid discussion where the student put her case forward to her peers. A blind ballot was then conducted in which all the students involved voted to allow the person to continue to share the facilities. In fact the vote was done a second time five days later with the same result. If any of them were to have refused, then we would have sought to make alternative arrangements. However, that has not happened, and until I receive a valid complaint, I see no reason that the arrangement can’t stay in place.”

“I have here a petition to have the person removed, signed by several dozen parents,” Mrs Baxter holds up a document.

“I said, ‘valid complaints.’ The only people who can validly make a complaint are those students who have to share the facilities with the person in question,” Mr Henry replies, “The names on the petition don’t count.”

“You say that the students who share the facilities during P.E. were consulted, but what about other students who may come into contact with him at other times?” Mrs Baxter asks. “Is he free to use the changing rooms outside of lessons where he could walk in on an unsuspecting girl? Also, this doesn’t answer the question about his use of the toilet facilities?”

“In respect to the toilet facilities, all disrobing is done behind closed cubicle doors, so no-one using those facilities should ever see another person in a state of undress, especially in the girls’ bathroom. If this was a female to male transsexual using the boys’ bathrooms, then you may have an argument, as boys using urinals stand in the open,” Mr Henry says. “However, I can vouch from personal experience that you don’t tend to see much when using such facilities, unless you deliberately position yourself in order to look, which is not considered polite behaviour in bathroom etiquette.”

“I take your point regarding the bathrooms,” Mrs Baxter concedes. “But that isn’t the case in the changing rooms. There you are likely to encounter individuals in various stages of undress, especially in the communal showers.”

“True,” Mr Henry replies. “This is where we come to the main reason why I am allowing this student to attend as a girl. This student has already been using the girls’ changing room, including showering with the other girls at the end of P.E. lessons, without anybody realising. The student was able to walk naked through a room full of girls, without any of them questioning her appearance.”

Mr Henry pauses while some of the audience, who were not aware of the full details, gasp aloud at the revelation. He then continues, “I think that in itself is justification for the student to be permitted to use the female facilities rather than the male. Forcing a person who physically appears to be female into the boys’ changing room would cause embarrassment not only to the student in question, but also the boys using the facilities who may be uncomfortable with the arrangement.”

The headmaster pauses for Mrs Baxter to respond, but she appears to be at a loss for words, so he explains, “I have simply applied the Duck Test to the problem. For those not familiar with the term this is summed up by the phrase: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck. I am allowing the student to attend as a girl as unless you are specifically told of her past, or knew her as a boy, then it’s extremely unlikely you would realise that she isn’t what she appears to be. For all intents and purposes, both physically and mentally, the student is female. I have already asked a random sample of girls from all years, and the results are that they simply aren’t bothered.”

It takes several moments for Mrs Baxter to recover from the shock. Finally she replies, “I’m still not convinced that it is appropriate for this person to be in the girls’ changing room leering at girls, or are you going to claim that this person is also gay?”

“As far as I’m aware she has a boyfriend and therefore probably isn’t a lesbian,” Mr Henry replies, deliberately flipping the definitions. “However, I don’t know for certain as I’m not allowed to ask. Legally, we cannot discriminate on sexual preference. We have a number of homosexual students, both male and female, who could equally be accused of leering, but that isn’t a valid reason for a blanket ban from the changing rooms. That is not to say that any complaints raised against individuals behaving inappropriately wouldn’t be investigated and dealt with. To date I’ve never had a student complain about sexual harassment.”

Mr Henry smiles at Mrs Baxter, waiting for her next argument. I think she is struggling to come up with anything further. She looks down and flips through the papers on her clipboard, checking her notes.

“You claim that this student isn’t causing a distraction, yet I have had reports of a teacher being suspended following an incident with the same student,” Mrs Baxter asserts. “Would you care to explain that?”

Mr Henry frowns and answers, “There is an ongoing disciplinary procedure involving one of my staff. As this matter has yet to be resolved, and is a confidential matter for the teacher concerned, I can’t really discuss that in an open forum such as this.”

“You aren’t denying that this student was involved then?” Mrs Baxter continues.

“I am neither denying nor confirming anything, the teacher and students in question have a right to confidentiality that I cannot breach,” Mr Henry replies.

“Don’t hold back on my part,” the voice of Mrs Gardener carries forth from the back of the room, “It does involve the transsexual student, and perhaps if the facts are known everybody will see the perverted child for what it truly is, rather than the angelic facade you’re attempting to portray.”

Mr Henry beckons Mrs Gardener to the front of the room, where she is provided with a chair next to the board.

“Fine, if you are happy for the evidence to be made public. Does student X agree?” Mr Henry asks aloud.

I answer, ‘Yes’ into Mr Henry’s earpiece, and he continues, “The student in question also agrees, therefore I shall ask for the recording of the incident to be played.”

“You recorded my lesson?” Mrs Gardener asks in surprise.

“Is that legal?” Mr Graham, the teacher’s union rep on the Governors panel enquires.

“Recording employees is legal if said employees are aware that they may be recorded. In this case, the recording wasn’t made by the school, but by one of the students. One of our pupils is partially deaf and requested that he be allowed to record lessons for later playback. Permission was granted and a memo sent round to all staff at the beginning of term informing them of his intentions and that if anybody was uncomfortable with the arrangement to let me know or speak to the boy directly,” Mr Henry explains.

“Ah, yes, I remember that memo,” Mr Graham answers, “I was forgetting about Charley.”

Mr Henry looks back at Mrs Gardener. She sighs and then says, “Go on then, play the tape.”

“Okay, Mr Page, over to you,” Mr Henry states.

Mr Page signals for us to be quiet while he uses the microphone, “What you are about to hear is a recording made during the lesson. I have blanked out the names of the students, replacing them with placeholders, but otherwise this remains as recorded. This is solely the interactions with students, the actual lecture where Mrs Gardener is speaking to the class as a whole is omitted. There are clues to the identity of the transgendered student included in this, and some of you may be able to identify the person in question. If you do so, I remind you to please not say the name out loud.”

The recording of the lesson is then played. An electronic voice replacing our names with “Student A”, “Student B” et cetera throughout the recording. With the bulk of the lesson removed, the playback only lasts for twelve minutes. It is obvious from the recording where most of the questions are being delivered. We have a camera pointed at the audience, in addition to the one broadcasting the podium over the web, so that I can see everyone’s reactions. Everybody listening to the audio file for the first time jumps at the sound of breaking glass.

“That sound was the whiteboard eraser, thrown by Mrs Gardener, hitting the window in the door of the classroom,” Mr Page explains over the speakers, “Student A has now left the room and has gone to Mr Holroyd’s office.”

The sound recording then continues. I recognise Samantha’s voice shout, “That was uncalled for!”

“Shut up, [Student K] unless you want to join [Student A] in exclusion,” Mrs Gardener angrily yells.

“If you’re going to throw things round like a five-year-old having a tantrum, then I think I may just be safer leaving the room,” Samantha answers at the top of her voice, “[Student A] was right, you’re nothing more than an arrogant bully. Considering [Student A]’s past, you’re lucky she was as constrained as she was in her replies.”

“How dare you speak to me like that?” the teacher shouts back.

“What is going on in here?” an elder male voice interrupts.

“[Student K] was just talking herself into a detention,” Mrs Gardener snaps at Mr Holroyd.

“Who broke the window?” Mr Holroyd asks.

It’s not possible to single out who replies, but it sounds like at least seven different voices simultaneously answer, “Mrs Gardener.”

“She was throwing the whiteboard cleaner at [Student A] as she tried to leave,” I hear Josh state, “Mrs Gardener has been picking on her all afternoon and [Student A] had enough and decided to leave.”

“I...er...wasn’t aiming at her. I was getting her attention by aiming at the wall next to her. I...er...missed,” Mrs Gardener claims, the stuttering pauses not helping her to sound convincing.

“Where is [Student A] now?” Mr Holroyd asks.

“She was on the way to your office,” Lisa replies, “I take it you didn’t meet her on the way. I suggest somebody checks she’s okay. The last time she was insulted over her appearance she almost had a breakdown. Being transgendered, she’s a bit sensitive about her appearance and suffers from depression when accused of being a boy in drag.”

“Transgendered?” Mrs Gardener shrieks at a high pitch.

“I think you’d best head to the staff room, I’ll take over here,” Mr Holroyd states before adding more forcibly, “Now, Mrs Gardener.”

The sound of heels storming out of the room can be heard. Mr Holroyd then instructs the class to remain quiet before he can also be heard leaving the room, presumably in pursuit of Mrs Gardener.

The final thirty seconds of the audio file is the most damning. Charley must have decided to keep his recorder running, as the rant by Mrs Gardener outside of the staff room has also been captured, although this isn’t as clear as he must have been some way down the corridor. There is a lot of background noise, but the swearing can be made out as Mrs Gardener shouts transphobic abuse at me.

The recording finally ends, leaving silence in the hall, the audience and governors sitting in shock at the events. Mr Henry takes centre stage again as he says, “In my opinion, Student A was slightly impertinent in her responses. I think she could have put her points across better, but some allowance can be made for her age and lack of experience. Mrs Gardener, you should have been setting a better example. Instead you - whether intentionally or not - went on to provoke the student further by deliberately picking on her to answer the majority of questions.”

Mr Henry pauses to catch his breath before saying, “By failing to act professionally, you lost control of the situation. To start throwing objects at students is unacceptable. Verbally attacking the student the way you did is definitely grounds for misconduct.”

“Okay, you don’t need to say anything further,” Mrs Gardener replies despondently, “You’ll have my resignation letter on your desk in the morning.”

The disgraced teacher gets up and leaves the building.

Mrs Baxter softly asks Mr Henry, “The hairstyle, are the patterns of a butterfly and flower?”

Mr Henry nods. Mrs Baxter considers this for a couple of seconds before taking the microphone again, “I have just realised the identity of the individual in question. I actually met her at the weekend. I sat speaking to her for over an hour, even discussing her new hairstyle and whether it would cause a problem in school. At no point did I ever suspect that I wasn’t talking to a natural-born girl. I really don’t know what to say. She was so natural that I’m struggling to see the child as a boy. I have put forward all the arguments, and have nothing more to say.”

Mrs Baxter sits down, handing back over to Mr Henry.

“I believe the student has recorded a statement to be played, Mr Page would you do the honours,” Mr Henry states.

Mr Page looks at me and I shake my head, “I’m not sure it’s still appropriate, I’ll speak live first if you don’t mind.”

Mr Page hands the controls to me. I engage the microphone and broadcast, “Thank you, Mr Henry, I have indeed recorded a message. However, in light of recent events, I’m not sure of its appropriateness. Therefore, I’m opting to speak first. I may have been a bit short and sharp with Mrs Gardener, and I think my recorded message might also be a bit confrontational. Deep down I’ve always known I was a girl, but getting other people to see me as such has been challenging. I think I can therefore be a bit oversensitive when people question my gender. I apologise if I come across as slightly catty. The following sort of sums up my thoughts and feelings on the subject, even if, well you’ll hear what I mean...”

I turn the mike off and press the playback button on the console. The unmistakable introductory notes of the 1970s Gloria Gaynor hit “I Will Survive” fill the speakers. However, the voice that starts singing is mine:

An exceedingly bad rendition of this song: http://youtu.be/wkJ0514oUng (I can't sing, so be warned!)

At first, I was afraid, I was petrified.
To come out, show the world who’s hiding deep down inside.
And after spending nights thinking, how I didn’t belong.
I grew strong, and I learned how to right that wrong.

And so I’m out, from that dark place.
Where demons lurk putting that sad look upon my face.
I have dropped that stupid sham, of the boy I used to be.
So I know for just a second, you’ll see the real me.

Go on now, go, do take the floor.
Pound me down now, ’cause I’m not welcome anymore.
Be the one, to try to give me the evil eye.
Think I'll crumble? Do you think I’ll lie down and die?

Oh, no not I, I am a lass.
As long as I still breathe, I will make it come to pass.
It’s my will to succeed, I’ve chose my life to lead.
And I’ll survive, I will survive.

It took all my strength not to fall to bits.
Trying to live inside a body that just doesn’t fits.
I spent so many nights feeling sorry for myself.
How I cried, but now I hold my head up high.

And you see me, the girl I am.
Not that lonely little person, faking she’s a man.
Now you come telling me, be something that I’m not.
I just can’t do that, I’d rather die, take my life on the spot.

Hear on now, here, you’ve got to learn.
I can’t turn back now, past the point of no return.
I’ve chopped my bits off, joined the ranks of girl kind.
Think I’ll crumble? Do you think I’ll go change my mind?

Oh, no not I, I am a lass.
As long as I still breathe, I will make it come to pass.
I’ve chose my life to lead, with my will to succeed.
And I’ll survive, I will survive.

Go on, now go, sod off, depart. Turn around now.
I’ve got my friend’s support.
You’re not the ones, who I live with all day and night.
Do you think they grumble? They accept me, and back my fight.

Oh, yes I am, I am a lass.
As long as I still breathe, I will make it come to pass.
I’ve chose my life to lead, with my will to succeed.
And I’ll survive, I will survive.

The last chorus repeats and fades to silence. A silent pause comes to the proceedings, which is broken by a member of the audience starting to clap. Slowly, one by one, other people join in until there is a concerted round of applause. I smile at the reaction, thankful my song didn’t completely bomb. I was fearful that I might have gone slightly over the top.

Mr Henry takes charge of the situation once more, “Thank you, Miss. That was certainly a unique way to put across your feelings. Having heard all the concerns raised, I must now ask the board to either back up the actions I have taken, or overrule them. Firstly do you agree that the student isn’t in breach of any uniform regulations by attending in feminine clothes?”

The governors gather in a huddle and whisper between them before voting unanimously that no rules have been broken. Mr Henry then asks about my use of the toilets, and again there are no objections. Considering how Mrs Baxter had been arguing against me, she is currently supporting Mr Henry rather than opposing.

The governors are then asked about my use of the changing rooms. Mrs Baxter then asks for this to be split into two separate votes, firstly for my involvement in P.E. lessons, and secondly for use at other times. The first vote is ten versus two in favour of me being allowed to continue to use the changing rooms during classes.

There is then a second vote for my usage of the facilities at other times, when I could walk in on a girl who hasn’t already agreed to share the showers. This doesn’t go in my favour. Eight of the twelve governors decide that I shouldn’t be given unrestricted access.

I ask for Mr Page for the microphone for the main speakers, “Excuse me, would it be acceptable to use the facilities if I announced my intention to enter and allow anybody inside to veto my entrance.”

Mr Henry then asks for a vote on my suggestion, which five of the previous objectors accept. The policy is therefore set that I can use the facilities as long as nobody voices an objection. Having to check every time I enter could become tiresome, but it’s not as bad as being banned entirely.

I have been keeping a close eye on the audience. There appear to be a few people grumbling and dissatisfied, but most present seem happy with the outcome. I think many parents didn’t have all the facts, and their fears have been answered. That I’m no longer a functional male and have the outward appearance of being female, even though I lack the internal plumbing, helps to persuade the majority of the audience.

Mr Henry concludes the meeting, and the web broadcast is shut down. As some of my more vocal protesters are not here in person, and the general level of hostility has dropped, I decide it may be safe to introduce myself. I ask my parents their opinion to which my father says that it is up to me. My mother tells me to be careful, but to do what I feel is appropriate.

Mr Page speaks to Mr Henry through his earpiece to let him know that I would like to come through to the main room. He replies and asks me to wait for a second, and to keep an eye on the monitors.

Mr Henry then calls the room to order again. The audience, who were then getting up to leave, turn and face him again as they come to a halt. “As a matter of interest, how many people here now know the identity of the student in question?”

About two-thirds of the people present raise their hands. Mr Henry then says, “The student - as you may have realised from the remote hook up earlier - is here in the building with her parents. She is willing to come through and introduce herself, but only if I deem it safe to do so. If there is anybody here who is thinking of acting with hostility, we do have a couple of police officers here amongst us who will be very happy to arrest anybody causing trouble.”

Mr Henry pauses looking round the room, “Okay, I will go and fetch her. Anybody who would like to meet our mystery student to ask further questions may wait here, otherwise the meeting is over and you may leave whenever you like.”

He walks out of the room. His mike is still active as he wanders along the corridor. Once alone, he starts to speak to us in the control room, “Jasmine, stay put for the moment. We have a female police officer here, as a stunt double for you, who can go in first to make sure it’s safe. If she doesn’t get attacked, then I will bring you in shortly.”

We carry on watching the monitors as Mr Henry returns to the room with somebody who looks vaguely like me. She is wearing a headscarf to hide her hair, and is dressed in our standard school uniform.

Mr Henry introduces Joan, formerly John, to the waiting audience. Mr Page escorts my parents and I through the school to another entrance to the hall. The drama studio has a main entrance that everybody is using to come and go, and a number of fire exits that can be used in an emergency. There is also a door into a backstage storage area. It is through this scenery store that we approach unseen. We are listening to the goings on using a radio tuned in to the frequency of the remote mikes.

There is obviously some confusion from the people who know me. After a few minutes, there doesn’t appear to be any hostility, so Mr Henry apologises to the audience and explains the deception and the need for caution. I enter the room behind the curtain at the back, and slip out behind the governors’ table.

Dr Truman and Mr Henry immediately come to my side in case of trouble. My parents stand behind me covering my rear.

Over the next few minutes, I introduce myself to the audience and answer some of their questions. Finally, after most of the people have left, I’m introduced to the governors, starting with those I don’t know. As with the audience, I’m greeted cordially.

“I hear from my colleagues that you haven’t been well,” Dr Truman states as I shake his hand.

“Slight touch of high blood pressure,” I reply, “but that seems to be under control now.”

“Well, I wish you well,” declares Dr Truman before bidding farewell and departing.

I approach Mrs Baxter, who has been waiting to one side, “Sorry for deceiving you on Saturday. I suspect that I don’t quite pass the criteria for competitive women’s tennis, but the other players on the team insisted that I should play. They justified it in that we were up against Katrina, so any unfair advantage I have would be countered by her presence.”

“I know my niece was joking about getting a boy to play for them, I didn’t expect her too actually...” Mrs Baxter pauses looking for the right word, trying to avoid describing me as a boy.

“It’s all right. You can refer to me as male. I won’t be offended,” I reply. “After all, that is genetically what I am, and always will be, although I hope to have surgery to correct my other issues. Technically, I regard myself as a male girl. Although that sounds stupid, it isn’t if you take male as a description of physical sex and girl as a description of gender. They aren’t necessarily the same thing.”

“I assumed from what I saw of your appearance, and what was said about not being discovered, that you had already had surgery,” Mrs Baxter states.

“I’m only halfway. I’ve had my male parts removed, but yet to have a vagina added,” I truthfully reply. I have avoided this question up until now with people I don’t know, but decide to be a bit more open with Mrs Baxter.

“I came here determined to oppose you,” Mrs Baxter admits, “But when I realised your identity I was shocked. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I didn’t think that it would be someone so feminine.”

“You were picturing an oaf in a dress, I understand that,” I answer. “Thank you for at least giving me the benefit of the doubt.”

I shake hands with all the governors, thanking them for their support, before we leave for home.