A teacher claims she was left humiliated after being made to apologise to pupils at a private girls' school for calling them girls.
Pupils at the £20,000-a-year school complained and said not everyone in the class identified as female, with one pupil challenging the woman to acknowledge their pronouns.
The philosophy and religious education teacher was forced to say sorry after saying "good afternoon, girls" at the start of the lesson.
Students wrote all their names and pronouns on the board the following day, with one of the children using the pronouns they/them.
They also held a lunchtime protest after she refused to acknowledge their request on usage and said she would need to involve parents if a pupil's preferred pronouns differed from their biological sex, The Mail on Sunday reported.
In an ongoing review into child and adolescent gender dysphoria care last week, the teacher said the problems began in May 2021 after some Year 7 students complained.
It came less than a week after the sixth form's "diversity and inclusion" prefects did an assembly on gender and pronouns.
Students were allegedly shown a video discussing gender identities and sex being assigned at birth.
"I was told that they made placards with slogans such as 'Trans lives matter'," the teacher said.
"Before the end of the week, I was in some sort of disciplinary process and the head of year was telling me I had to apologise to the girls."
The teacher, who asked to remain anonymous to protect the pupils, said she was made to stand to one side as the head of year addressed the pupils saying "no one here would want to hurt you".
Addressing the children on her behalf, the head of year said "I am sorry you're upset", explaining "no one here would want to hurt you" and "you're all really loved by us".
The teacher feels she was then "managed out" by senior staff who refused to extend her one-term contract at the school, which is part of the independent Girls' Day School Trust.
The Telegraph has contacted the trust, which declined to comment to the Mail on Sunday.
