Hope Haddon

Hope Haddon is one of the main characters in the third season of Sex Education. She is portrayed by Jemima Kirke. She is the former headmistress of Moordale Secondary, who also tries to get pregnant throughout the season three storyline, but unsuccessfully.

In season 3, Hope becomes the new headmistress at Moordale Secondary, who was taking over from Mr. Groff "to get the school back on track''. She appoints Viv the new head girl, instead of Jackson, and tries to turn Moordale into a sex-free campus. Her plans eventually are ruined by the students, who take over the stage during the open day. Therefore, Hope fails her mission of getting the school back on track and gets fired. Hope and her husband also try their best to finally get pregnant by IVF, but unsuccessfully.

Early Life[]

Hope originally comes from Moordale, where she attended the local high school. She describes those years as the best years of her life, as Moordale Secondary not only encouraged her to excel academically, but it also truly allowed her to find her purpose. Despite that, it is known that Hope used to be quite a different person back in her high school days. However, her goals led her to become a teacher at some of the country's top schools, and eventually, at the age of 28, she became the youngest headteacher in the UK.

Throughout the Series[]

Season 3[]

Hope is appointed as the new headmistress of Moordale Secondary School with the task of cleaning up the school's reputation, which is known as the "Sex School" in the local media. Initially, Hope assures her students that she is here to turn the school into a safe space where everyone feels at ease. She enlists the help of Vivienne, who she names new Head Girl due to feeling that Jackson is not fit for the position. However, Hope grows appalled by the students' behaviour, who she still deems too promiscuous to her liking, which leads her to undertake very conservative measures, such as promoting sexual abstinence, enforcing humiliating punishments and refusing to acknowledge the needs of non-binary students such as Cal. This is further reinforced by her failure to get pregnant through IVF. Eventually, Hope completely loses control of the school, unable to stop the broadcast of a video promoting sex positivity during a school open day. She is therefore dismissed as headteacher as the school is doomed to close.

Relationships[]

Family[]

Mr. Haddon (husband)[]

Hope appears to have a good relationships with her husband. Throughout the storyline of season 3, she and her husband are trying to get pregnant, but they fail to do so, due to Hope's infertility.

Rivals[]

Jackson Marchetti (enemy; former ally)[]

At first, Jackson had good relationships with Hope, the new headmistress at his school. Everything started to change after Hope decided that Jackson will no longer be the head boy and gave this job to Jackson's best friend, Vivienne. Then, Jackson gets mad at both Hope and Viv. Jackson also develops a deep connection with a non-binary student, Cal, who was probably the biggest enemy of Hope's management. Because of hanging out with Cal, Jackson starts to be perceived as an enemy by Hope.

With time, Viv also realizes the nefarious side of Hope's management of the school, and secretly records her as Hope clearly shows her disdain for the students and their concerns. Viv sends the recording to Jackson, Cal and other students, and takes part in the open school show which clearly states the students' pride regarding talking about sex, which was organized by her and Jackson. Thanks to that, Jackson, Viv, Cal and the rest of the students finally get rid of Hope, who loses her position and gets kicked out of Moordale Secondary.

Vivienne Odusanya (enemy; former ally)[]

Viv perceives Hope's arrival as her opportunity for academic career, especially after Hope appoints Viv as the new Head Girl, thus taking Jackson's position.

With time, Viv realizes the nefarious side of Hope's management of the school, and secretly records her as Hope clearly shows her disdain for the students and their concerns. Viv sends the recording to the other students, and takes part in the open school show which clearly states the students' pride regarding talking about sex.

Cal Bowman (enemy)[]

The two clearly hated each other. Cal felt discriminated by Hope, who didn't seem to understand that Cal is non-binary, not a girl, and Cal disliked the changes Hope was managing at Moordale Secondary; once they called one of Hope's ideas as bullshit, talking directly to her. When Cal developed a deep connection with Jackson, who was perceived by Hope as her ally; Hope wants to make Jackson stop hanging out with them. Later, noticing that it is not possible, because of hanging out with Cal, Hope starts to perceive Jackson as an enemy.

Hope also publicly shamed Cal for not abiding by the new rules and called them a slovenly troublemaker. After that, Cal had to wear a shame-sign, which was supposed to make them feel uncomfortable and humiliated.

With time, Viv also realizes the nefarious side of Hope's management of the school, and secretly records her as Hope clearly shows her disdain for the students and their concerns. Viv sends the recording to Cal, Jackson and other students, and takes part in the open school show which clearly states the students' pride regarding talking about sex, which was organized by Viv and Jackson. During the open day, Hope, noticing that Cal still isn't abiding by the rules, decides to lock them in one of the classrooms, not wanting them to ruin the school reputation in front of the press. Eventually, Cal gets out of the classroom and falls down onto the stage during the show, saying hi to Hope and showing her their middle fingers.

Thanks to Cal, Jackson and Viv's plan, students finally get rid of Hope, who loses her position and gets kicked out of Moordale Secondary.

Adam Groff (enemy)[]

Hope was the principal at Adam's school, Moordale Secondary School. Hope publicly shamed Adam for throwing a poo out of coach window in France (not knowing that Rahim was the one who did it). After that, Adam had to wear a shame-sign, saying that he was unhygienic.

Lily Iglehart (enemy)[]

Lily is a student at Moordale Secondary School. Hope publicly shamed Lily for her alien story during school assembly. After that, Lily didn't want to go to school anymore.

Ruby Matthews (enemy)[]

For most of Hope's time at Moordale, she and Ruby didn't interact with each other. Despite that, Ruby disliked the changes Hope made and later took part in 'The Thing' organized by students to get rid of Hope. During the open day, when students started to taking over, when Hope stands up and goes to turn off the video, whereas Ruby goes after her to stop her. Eventually, the two end up having a fight, which Hope loses, after Ruby beat her rival with expensive perfume.

Personality[]

In episode 3.1, she shows hope for Moordale and to make it a better place, but in later episodes it is found that she was slightly manipulative towards students because of the stress she faced when she couldn't have a baby.

She acts very progressive and forward-thinking, but in reality is very backwards and has shown blatant transphobia, homophobia, and disrespect to the LGBTQIA+ alliance in general. She also had no qualms in publicly shaming pupils that she viewed as having poor attitudes.

Appearances[]

	Episodes
Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
Three	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	8
Total									8
Books
Sex Education: The Road Trip					Sex Education: A Guide to Life
-					M
✔ = Appeared					M = Mentioned
- = Did not appear					P = Pictured

Memorable Qutoes[]

Trivia[]

• She has two degrees and had teaching positions at some of the country's top institutions and became the youngest headteacher by 28 in the UK.^[1]
• She became the headmistress of Moordale Secondary in September 2021.
• Every morning Hope goes jogging.
• Hope is the only main character to appear in only one season.

Gallery[]

Sex Education Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Hope Haddon.

Promotional Images[]

Episodic[]

References[]

Overview • Gallery