Miss Murphy, who has been a teacher at the small rural school for five years, began her role as principal in the first term of this year.
She said her previous experience at the school made for an easy transition.
‘‘I already knew the families and the kids, and what is beautiful about a small school is those connections with everyone, which is not something you always get in bigger schools — it’s really nice,’’ she said.
Miss Murphy was a junior room teacher — a role in which she continued part-time as principal — at the school from 2020, when Matt Hannagan was principal.
She said he was ‘‘the best mentor’’.
Her team included teachers Zoe Smith (senior), Sharon Walsh-Grieve (part-time), Kate Payne (teacher aide) and office administrator Chris Hart, she said.
The strong connections and ‘‘looking out for one another’’ were what she valued about the school.
‘‘We have a great team here and everyone is so supportive.
‘‘It’s a real community feel.
‘‘We have Te Rūnanga o Moeraki as our tangata whenua connection, our community workshop is across the road; the whole community are so supportive. We are really lucky here,’’ she said.
Miss Murphy has lived in Hampden for seven years, after moving to Oamaru 11 years ago with her partner.
She worked as a teacher at BestStart Oamaru Kindy, then became the head teacher and centre manager of the early childhood programmes.
Her love of dance inspired her to pursue a teaching career.
‘‘When I was at high school I did a lot of dancing and I ended up teaching ballet while I was at university too, and I just loved that, and thought I would like to teach full-time, so it grew from there.’’
The school roll was 32, which Miss Murphy said she would like to increase.
‘‘We’ve had two big cohorts of year 8s leaving, so the numbers can get tricky.
‘‘We’re 100% hoping to grow that and it’d be amazing to have a kōhanga [nursery] or kindergarten here to help bring children into the area.’’
She was also committed to growing available facilities at the school, with a Ministry of Education-funded building project nearing completion on the school grounds.
‘‘The old school hall is being developed. We’re stoked that should be finished very soon — it’s been a long time coming.’’
Developing a community space that included a sports hall,‘‘so kids don’t always have to travel for sports’’, a learning co-ordinator space for education and a meeting and reading room for ‘‘much needed’’ quiet spaces was her priority, she said.
On top of that Miss Murphy said she hoped to start an after-school care programme to help working parents.
Hampden School board of trustees chairman Chris Hepburn said the new principal was ‘‘very impressive’’.
‘‘I’ve got really high hopes for her. I think she’s going to be really great,’’ he said.
