Request and Notification to School

What is a Formal Request to the school?

A formal request or notification to the school is an official letter written by the student or parent to the school to convey any information. In a formal letter from the school, the student or parent can make a request, ask for the school’s permission on an issue or simply make a notification to the school.
Formal letters from students/parents to the school will be carefully considered by school officials. Therefore, before writing to the school, students and parents must understand the school's policies, positions on certain issues, and any specific guidelines to follow before writing to the school.

A. General Guideline for Formal Request to School

There is no one hard and fast rule when writing a request to the school. Each request would be different depending on the circumstances. Before writing a formal letter of request/notification to the school, you should keep the following points in mind:

1. Polite and Tactful - Always be extremely polite and tactful, no matter how frustrated you are. Don't use abbreviations and slang,

2. Clear and Concise – You should be clear, direct, and to the point on what you are requesting or notifying the school about.

3. Courteous and Reasonable – You should be courteous in your tone and reasonable in your request. Put yourself in the position of the school when you write.

4. Accurate and Factual – Any facts provided in your letter should be accurate. Do not exaggerate about what happened or the impact on your child. 

B. Common Format for Formal Request to School

The general format for a formal request to school letter is as follows:
1. Contact Details - Your contact details should be displayed prominently at the top of the page so that the school will know how to contact you in response.
2. Date - The date is important to indicate the date on which the letter was written. If there has been no response from the school for a period of time, you are entitled to follow up.
3. Recipient – Are you writing to the school, a school official, a department, a class teacher, or the principal? You should associate the recipient's name/position with the school's address.
4. Subject – It is important to indicate the subject of your request or notification in the subject line to clearly show the purpose of this letter. It might be helpful to include the name and class of your child in the subject line as well.
5. Body – You would generally include the following in the body of the letter. (i) introduce yourself (and your child); (ii) state the purpose of the letter; (iii) state any factual information relating to the purpose; (iv) explain the reasoning for your request or notification; and (v) concluding remarks – reiterate your request again or offer a solution to the issue.
6. Thank you – Thank the school in advance for taking care of the issue.
7. Signature - Have the letter signed by the parent and the student.

C. Specific Requests to School

There are certain specific requests that one would make to the school, for example:

1. Allocation / Placement into a Particular Class / Change of Class

1. First state your child's current grade level and the current teacher.
2. Mention your child's strengths - academically, in sports, music, and socially, as well as the interests of your child.
3. Write down any concerns you have about your child. This is a place that contains any special needs or personality traits that require special attention.
4. Write down what type of class or teacher you think your child is best at. 
5. Thank the school for considering your request.

2. Recommending your child to a sports team

1. First state your child's sporting activities and the current PE teacher/coach.
2. Mention your child's keen interest in the sport. How the child is keen to join the sports team and always talks passionately about playing the sport.
3. How your child wants to be selected for the sports team and take his / her natural talent to the next level?
4. How your child can contribute to the team.
5. Thank the school for considering your request.

3. School Admission Application

Please refer to the section on school admission.

4. Leave Application for School

Please refer to the section on leave application for school.

5. Letter to Principal / Headmaster

This should be reserved for more serious complaints/issues. Please refer to the section on leave application for school.