On 1st June this year, Rye Hills joined a different multi-academy trust (group of schools) called North East Learning Trust, or NELT for short. Because of this, some things are changing at Rye Hills and some decisions about changes are still being made.

You need to be at school for 8:30am. The doors open at 8:35. The main entrance is in the middle of the building with the large doors.

On the first day you should stand outside the main entrance. A member of the Senior Leadership Team will then ask you to line up in silence.

We will walk you into the assembly hall and there will be a short 'welcome assembly'. We will read out everyone's name and you will be collected by your Year 7 Form Tutor. They will take you and the rest of your form to a classroom and your induction into Rye Hills Academy will begin.

You will need to have a school bag large enough to fit PE kit, a pencil case and your homework in. You will need to keep your bags with you all day and carry them to each lesson.

Lunch time for all students is 12:20 to 1:15pm. Some students choose to bring a packed lunch from home into school and others choose to buy a school meal. We have some exciting changes planned for the lunch menu, which we will share with you in September. A school meal deal is £2.25 which includes a meal, dessert and drink. You have a cashless dinner queue which means you will be asked to place your thumb onto a scanner. This is connected to your dinner money balance.

If you have older family members at the academy, you may have seen their planner. From September, all students will have an electronic planner which you can access from home via a computer or your phone. This will be much better because the homework and other pieces of important information will be recorded in it for you by teachers. Your job will be to check your planner daily for any homework.

These two things are completely separate. Your form is based on which college you are in and is where you see your form tutor each morning during registration. Classes are set according to ability. In primary school you may have had one or two Year 6 classes in your school. In Year 7 there are at least 8 classes. All of Year 7 will study French. This is a change from previous years where half the year also did Spanish.

Your class will be made up of students from different forms and colleges who are able to work at the same level as you in class. This is really important to make sure that you have a balance of support and challenge in lessons. For example, you could be really good at Maths and need challenge work but struggle with English and need additional help from the teacher to make progress. So, lessons will be planned to match your ability level and make sure that you are able to make progress from the work you did in Y6. We have asked your Year 6 teachers for your current working at grades and so we know what levels you finished primary school at. Subjects may also set little tests at the start of Year 7 too.

Only the tie. The rest of the uniform is the same.

• Green for Shakespeare

• Purple for Newton

• Blue for Brunel

You may notice a few older students wearing a different tie - these are members of the academy's school council.

We know from experience that one of the fun things about moving to secondary school is meeting new friends. You will still be able to see old friends from primary school at break or lunch times and of course, in any extra-curricular clubs and activities you choose to participate in. You may have friends in your classes, but we do not organise groups in this way.