New start for Shanni - VIDEO

The 14-year-old, from Arbourthorne, needed 32 stitches and was almost blinded when a fellow pupil lashed out at her with a razor blade during an English lesson.

She was left with a scar running from her hairline and down her cheek, another running from the other eye down her cheek and a third along the side of her face.

Her attacker was convicted of unlawful wounding and Shanni has spent the last two years trying to come to terms with her ordeal.

At just 12 when the attack occurred she struggled to understand what had happened, lost her confidence, rarely looked in a mirror and asked her family to buy her a baseball cap so that she could hide her face when out in public.

But today, with her scars fading fast, the teenager, who has had some home education during the last two years, is ready to restart school properly again for the first time since the attack and rebuild her life.

She is starting a new school in the city on Tuesday, where she hopes pupils will get to know her as Shanni "and not that girl from the newspapers and off the telly".

As most youngsters spend the last few days of the summer holidays sorting out their school uniform and pencil cases, Shanni is planning how long she will need each morning to carefully apply the specialist make-up needed to conceal her scars.

Although the red, angry, raised up scars she was initially left with have faded, she is still conscious of the marks left behind and is given make-up on the NHS to try to hide them.

She said it takes more than an hour to apply and means she will have to get up at 6am every day to have enough time before lessons.

The blossoming youngster, who dreams of becoming a DJ, said she is surprised at how well her scars have healed.

Recalling the first time she saw her injuries, she said: "I felt worried when I looked in the mirror, as I thought they were not going to be that bad, but when I Iooked they were bad.

"I knew they were not going to go. As soon as I went to see the nurses they said they were pretty deep so I knew they were always going to be there."

Shanni said immediately after the attack she couldn't leave the house without strangers staring or commenting on her injuries, but now her scars have healed so well nobody mentions them.

Her grandmother Kathleen Naylor, of Berners Road, Arbourthorne, said she is amazed at how well the youngster has coped.

She recalled arriving at Myrtle Springs School and finding the youngster "stood in a pool of blood".

The grandmother-of-12 said the ordeal did initially leave Shanni suffering from nightmares, but that she has now regained her confidence and has stared enjoying life again.

"At first Shanni went very reclusive, she was always in her bedroom," she said.

"It was difficult for her to go outside, she did not want to go to the shops in case there were stares – there were always people looking at her.

"Shanni never used to wear baseball caps but she asked us for one to wear. She used to put her head down.

"It has been hard, very hard, getting through this, not knowing what the long term effects were going to be both visually and mentally.

"She used to say 'why has this happened?' and it was hard finding an answer for a 12-year-old, but she has come through it and is happy again."

The family has started legal proceedings against the education authority over the attack.