Missing setting icon on new ipad

Apps can be removed from the home screen without being deleted. Go to the App Library (swipe left past your last home screen). From there you can touch and hold an app and slide it left back to the home screen.

Also note the Search window at the top of the App Library.

“New 7th generation iPad”? The seventh generation iPad was released by Apple in 2019 and discontinued in 2020.

So perhaps you mean it’s “new to you”.