A school circular is an official notice from the school to parents, staff or both: a holiday, an exam schedule, a fee change, an event, a safety instruction. Schools send dozens a term, and the problem is rarely writing them. It is that families do not read them, read them late, or cannot find them again when they need the date. This guide covers how to write a circular people act on, how to send it, and how to keep a record.
What a good circular contains
- A clear subject line that says what it is about: "Annual Day on 14 December: timings and dress code", not "Circular No. 47".
- Who it is for: the whole school, one class, parents, staff.
- The key facts first: what, when, where, and what the reader must do.
- A deadline if a reply, a form or a payment is needed.
- A contact for questions.
- A reference number and date, so it can be found and quoted later.
A simple format you can reuse
[School name]
Circular No. [number] | Date: [date]
To: Parents of Classes [classes]
Subject: [one line]
Dear Parents,
[One or two sentences with what is happening and when.]
[What you need to do, and by when.]
[Any detail: timings, venue, what to bring.]
For questions, contact [name, role] on [phone].
[Name]
Principal
Writing tips that get circulars read
- Put the action in the first two lines. Most parents read the opening on a phone notification and nothing more.
- One topic per circular. A notice that mixes the sports day, a fee change and a uniform rule loses two of the three.
- Use plain words and short sentences. Many families read in a second language. Translate the important ones if your community needs it.
- Write dates in full: "Friday, 14 December", not "14/12".
- Send to the right group only. A Class 3 picnic notice sent to the whole school teaches parents to ignore notices.
- Mark what is urgent, and only that. If everything is urgent, nothing is.
Sending: paper, WhatsApp groups or an app?
Paper circulars in school bags get lost, and there is no record of who received them. Class WhatsApp groups are fast but mix official notices with chatter, expose parents' phone numbers to each other, and are hard to search later. A school app keeps every notice in one place for each family, sends a notification, and leaves a record the school can refer back to. Many schools use the app as the official channel and SMS for the few families who do not use it. Our article on WhatsApp, SMS or app alerts compares the options.
Keep a record
Number your circulars, keep them in one place and do not delete old ones. When a parent says "nobody told us", you can show the notice and the date it went out. A dated record also helps at inspection time and when planning next year's calendar.
How Eduzon handles circulars and notices
In Eduzon the school posts a notice to the whole school, to all staff, to all parents or to one class, and teachers can post to the classes they teach. A notice can be marked high priority or urgent; an urgent notice also appears as a pop-up alert in the parent app until the date the school sets. When a notice is posted, families get a notification in the app and, where the school has set them up, by email, SMS or push. Parents find every notice for their child in the parent app, and the school can share a notice to a WhatsApp group with one click.
For messages to a particular group, the school can send a broadcast by SMS, WhatsApp, email or app notification to all parents, all staff, chosen classes, the parents of chosen students, or parents with pending fees, using saved templates, and see how many messages were delivered and opened. Where the school switches it on, parents can also message their child's teachers through the in-app chat.
Frequently asked questions
What is the format of a school circular?
School name, circular number and date, who it is for, a one-line subject, the key facts and the action needed with a deadline, a contact for questions, and the principal's name. Keep it to one topic.
How can schools make sure parents read circulars?
Send each circular only to the families it concerns, put the action in the first two lines, use plain language, mark only genuinely urgent notices as urgent, and use a channel parents check every day, such as a school app with notifications.
Should schools send circulars on WhatsApp groups?
Groups are quick, but official notices get buried in chat, phone numbers are visible to everyone, and there is no clean record. Many schools use an app or SMS as the official channel and share a link in groups only as a reminder.
How long should a school keep old circulars?
Keep at least the current and previous academic year, numbered and dated, so you can show when a notice was sent and plan the next year's calendar.
