A new school year has meant a new school principal for St Mary's Catholic Primary with the arrival of Mrs Gayle Stratton.
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Originally from Brisbane, Mrs Stratton is no stranger to holding the head position at Catholic schools, after being both principal and, before that, assistant principal, at schools in Sydney. One big change presented by her new role in Orange though is that the move here has marked her first placement in regional NSW.
"What's driven me to here is to seek a more peaceful life and a life where I can be more in touch with the environment [where I can] go at a bit more of a reasonable pace," Mrs Stratton said.
However - she was quick to add - that that "reasonable pace" provided by regional living wouldn't be relaxed: "A principal's job is never relaxed".
In the short time since her arrival in Orange in mid-January, the move out of Sydney has been paying off for the principal, who stepped into the role which was vacated by Mrs Kerry Maher at the end of 2020.
"The thing that stands out is that you can feel the warmth of the community here. It's really quite obvious. And the grounds and the facilities that the children have [at St Mary's] are spectacular. There's lots and lots of opportunities for them as well," the principal said.
As the first person in her large extended family to go on to tertiary education, Mrs Stratton decided early on she wanted to devote her life to "equity of opportunity for children".
"From my own background, education was a pathway for me to change the outcomes of my life... It's really important to me that we give the next generation the best start that they can possibly have," she said.
"There were six of us and my mother fought very hard to have us all in Catholic schools and I know she made a lot of sacrifices to get us through. I appreciate that and feel it's important to give that back.
"[My parents] had a really hard life. They worked really hard for us but there was a lot of us," she added.
Understandably, her upbringing had no small amount of impact on her life and her choice to pursue teaching as a career.
"It totally affected my outlook on life because it's only through my experience of a really rich education in terms of meeting great people and having teachers who were mentors that.... I felt like there was hope for a good future," Mrs Stratton said.
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