Welcome to the School of Natural Sciences

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the School of Natural Sciences and are committed to providing the best student experience possible.

Welcome to the University of Manchester! We can't wait to welcome you to the School of Natural Sciences (or SoNS) in September. The School is in the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE), and is made up of five departments:

• Department of Chemistry
• Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Department of Materials
• Department of Mathematics
• Department of Physics and Astronomy

Timetable and Registration

From Monday 21 September, your Departmental Welcome programme will begin for your area of study. There will be a range of activities to help you make friends, meet your lecturers and settle into University life. It is important that you make arrangements to attend all of these sessions. They should automatically appear on your personal timetable which can be accessed once you complete registration, which you can do from 1 September. You can also find a PDF copy of your timetable here, once it is confirmed.

Some classes may appear on your online timetable for week 1, the first week of teaching, but don't worry if there are only one or two - the full timetable should appear sometime during Welcome Week.

Communications

Before you arrive, information may be sent to your personal email, your student email, or both. In early September, you will receive an email from the SoNS Student Support Hub telling you that your Welcome Week timetable is ready, so look out for that one! Once term starts, checking your student email regularly is vital. You will receive important info via email, as well as regular student newsletters. You can also follow us on Instagram for updates.

Student Support in the School of Natural Sciences

You can get support and advice from the Student Support Hub in the Alan Turing Building (map ref: 46). Drop by to speak to the team about any query; we can help with student support and wellbeing, general student life queries, and much more. We can also help with problems you're having with registration or with using new systems like My Manchester (a digital platform for UoM students), Canvas (our central learning environment), or SEaTs (our teaching session attendance logging tool).

On Sharepoint you can find the SoNS Virtual Hub where you will find an extensive list of useful information and resources, including wellbeing support and how to request certain documents. You will need to log in with your new University username and password.

Our friendly team will aim to resolve your query or refer and signpost you appropriately. If we can't answer your question we will find out who can!

Introductory online modules

There will be some important compulsory online modules for you to complete in the first few weeks: Health and Safety; Academic Malpractice; and Respect and Dignity. These will be made available to you via Canvas.

There are also some non-compulsory modules which will help you prepare for the transition to your studies at the University of Manchester; Essential Transitional Module and My Learning Essentials.

See you in September!

The Welcome period can be a challenging and exhilarating time, where you will be meeting both academic and support staff and will be able to participate in a range of social events.

You'll need to absorb and process a great deal of information in a relatively short period of time, so try to be as prepared as possible before you arrive by reading any information we send, activating your IT account, registering as a student, familiarising yourself with support available, and getting in touch if you have any questions.

We look forward to meeting you soon!