After doing Kindergarten to Year 10 at St Matt's, Mrs Myles completed her schooling at Mudgee High, before going to university in Bathurst to study accounting.

She worked in Sydney and then retrained as a teacher. Her new career began in Dubbo, before taking her to Queensland where she taught in Bundaberg, then went on to spend the last four years as principal at St Mary's Catholic College in Kingaroy.

However, when her home town beckoned it was too good to ignore.

"When the opportunity came up I knew I had to go for it, because we just love it here," she said. "And the chance to come back and lead in a community that you were formed in is really special."

And Mrs Myles is joining St Matt's as they prepare to construct a new secondary campus on Broadhead Road, South Mudgee.

"I have such wonderful memories of being a student here and a real love for the place, so getting to take it to the next stage feels like quite a privilege," she said.

"The growth in the school during the last few years has been phenomenal. And one of the things that I'm doing in the first weeks and months is getting a sense of why that's happening and what the attraction is for people and what they love about St Matt's - because clearly people do - and once I understand that we can keep it going.

"And then moving into the next phase, where we'll be split campuses, has a lot of challenges but also a lot of excitement."

One of the last big changes at the school was the addition of Years 11 and 12. And having been in the top job at a Prep (kindergarten in QLD) to Year 12 school in Kingaroy, Mrs Myles is also in tune with that element.

"I feel really lucky that I had the opportunity to be the principal of a P-12 school prior to coming here. And having that experience of what works well in a K-12 is a really valuable thing to be able to bring here," she said.

The former St Matt's student was at home on university holidays when the school was destroyed by fire in 1992 - furthermore, her father was the fire brigade captain. But she said something hasn't changed.

"The school looks completely different, there's only some remnants of things that were there when I was a student, but it still feels the same," she said. "Which is hard to explain, because it's not physically the same. But it definitely has the same culture and the same warmth that it always had - you can feel it when you walk in the door.

"And I'm really enjoying it, in the first few weeks I've felt really welcome. The community - the staff, students and parents - is very energetic and excited to be part of the place, they're so positive."