The Hopetoun
The Hopetoun
The HMs
Sam Gutteridge joined Wellington in 2003. He teaches History and, during his time at Wellington, he has been head of Third Form, Head of Fifth Form, and IB Coordinator. He was a member of the Territorial Army for 12 years and in 2007, during the Iraq War, he completed a six-month tour of duty in Iraq and Qatar. He now looks after the Army section of the CCF, and coaches rugby, cross-country and athletics.
Polly Gutteridge worked as a journalist and author before coming to Wellington in 2009. She has published seven travel books and has written about her travels for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines. Polly teaches Spanish, and was Head of Spanish before becoming HM of the Hopetoun. She founded and oversees DukeBox, the radio station of the Wellington family of schools.
Polly and Sam have three sons – Ted, and twins Oli and Alex.
The House
The Hopetoun is a modern, purpose-built house on the east of the campus. It is close to the College’s main buildings, yet is tucked away in its own private corner.
The Hopetoun girls have a reputation for being happy to be themselves, without a need to follow the crowd. It’s an all-round house. Our girls are very academic, but we have girls who love sport, drama, music and everything else as well. We place great emphasis on kindness and inclusivity. The Hopetoun is the girls’ home away from home – they must all feel comfortable here, whatever their age and disparate talents, if they’re to truly thrive, to have the courage to step outside their comfort zones, and to develop into the confident, articulate, cultured young people that will leave us at the age of 18.
In the Hopetoun’s corridors the year groups are mixed, except for the Third Form which has a 10-dorm. With so many of the youngest year group living in a single room, the Hopetoun girls gel as a cohesive group right from the start. They get to know each other very well, very fast. And they have a lot of fun.