By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

PELHAM – Riverchase Middle School’s incoming sixth graders and their parents spent more than an hour on the RMS campus for an informational meeting on April 14.

“This is new,” RMS Principal Susan Hyatt said of the meeting. “We’ve never done this before. We’re trying something different.”

The school conducts an orientation for incoming students just before the new academic year starts, but Hyatt said holding a meeting in the spring for parents and students would give them more time to learn about RMS and the faculty’s expectations.

“It’s our hope to get the students and parents more at ease with the transition,” Hyatt said.

Students’ transition from intermediate to middle school includes adjusting to changing classes, using lockers and abiding by a different dress code.

Students will also have access to new opportunities, such as a chess club and robotics team.

A sixth grade academy will take place before school starts in August to allow students to run through a “mini day” of school, Hyatt said.

Nearly 250 students will enter the sixth grade at RMS this year.

Several teachers and administrators addressed families at the meeting, and parents received registration packets for their children.

Hyatt said the school will continue to hold the spring meeting if the inaugural meeting is deemed a success.

“We are here to help you and your child succeed in everything they do,” RMS teacher Amy Corbitt said to the dozens of parents lining the gym bleachers. “It’s a wonderful place.”