JK Rowling will no longer have school house named after her

The announcement comes after the Harry Potter author was blasted over a series of Tweets.

The Weald School in Billingshurst revealed last month that it would be naming one of its five houses after the 54-year-old, but ditched the idea following her controversial comments.

In a letter to parents on Wednesday, deputy headteacher Sarah Edwards said: "In recent days it has come to light that one of our new names may in fact no longer be an appropriate role model for our community.

"JK Rowling has tweeted some messages which are considered to be offensive to the LGBT+ community (specifically, trans-phobic) and we feel that we do not wish to be associated with these views."

The building will now be named Blackman, a nod to former Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman.

Ms Edwards heralded the Noughts and Crosses author as "a prolific author of children's and young adult literature" who "uses her writing as a way of exploring social and ethical issues".

She said: "We feel that she fits the bill as an excellent replacement for a modern-day female author, so that we retain our aim of having a combination of historical and modern significant figures."

The school has approximately 1,700 pupils and five houses, with plans to add a sixth in September.

The other houses will be named Da Vinci, Seacole, Mercury, Attenborough and Thompson.

Following criticism of her Tweets, JK Rowling has responded in a lengthy blog post which was published on Wednesday.

She said she had "followed the debate around the concept of gender identity closely" for several years and listed five reasons why she had felt the need to "speak up".

These included her charity, the Volant Charitable Trust, which "helps fund charitable causes in Scotland, with an emphasis on women and children’s issues".

She also said her former role as a teacher led her to have an "interest in both education and safeguarding," and her position as a "much-banned author" meant she was "interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended it".

But stars of the Harry Potter series including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have been among those to condemn her comments.

Emma Watson said: "Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren't who they say they are."