Mrs Senior has replaced retiring principal Helen Blick, and said she was thrilled to be surrounded by a ''great group of teachers who have a lot of energy, wanting to move forward''.
''The environment is exciting - the community want to move forward with that 21st century focus and that's something that I have a lot of experience in,'' she said.
At present, Waitaki Valley School has a roll of 109 pupils.
''It's big enough for me to have a plan to move it forward [and] small enough to still be that country, rural school,'' she said.
Mrs Senior started her teaching career at Hilderthorpe School in 1995, moving to Fernbrook School in 1996 and then to St Joseph's School in 1997, becoming deputy principal there in 2004.
In 2007, she spent the year working as an ICT facilitator with 13 country schools from Palmerston to Glenavy and inland to Omarama, including Waitaki Valley School.
That work involved facilitating teacher development and learning, as well as modelling effective use and practices in classrooms.
In 2008 she moved to Oamaru Intermediate School as deputy principal.
She was passionate about digital innovation in schools, Mrs Senior said.
Earlier this year, she spent six weeks visiting schools around the country looking at the use of digital devices in the classroom, supported by Oamaru Intermediate School.
''The focus of my visits was to help continue to move OIS forward, but with being here now, two schools have been able to benefit out of the sabbatical,'' she said.
In 2009, Mrs Senior was selected as one of four New Zealand teachers to go to Kuala Lumpur to present about initiatives they were putting in place at their schools.
From that presentation, she was judged to be ''Microsoft New Zealand's most innovative teacher''.
Mrs Senior grew up on a farm in rural Southland and when she first moved to North Otago in 1995, she expected to stay for two years.
''A husband, a mortgage and two kids later, I'm still here,'' she said.
''I like North Otago - I like the locality and there's so much on offer.''
