Notice Format (Notice Writing Format)

What is a Notice?

A notice is a short formal announcement from a school, office or housing society, pinned on a notice board or circulated to everyone it concerns: what is happening, when and where, and who to ask. It carries the institution's name, the word NOTICE, a date, a heading and the signature of the person issuing it. Without a clear notice, people hear about meetings and deadlines from rumour, turn up on the wrong day, or say, fairly, that nobody told them. The notice writing format on this page follows the same order taught for school English papers, so it works on a notice board and in an exam answer. Sample notices for a school, an office and a housing society follow the steps below.

Schools use notices for exams, sports days, fee dates, holidays and lost property; offices for meetings, holidays, maintenance shutdowns and new rules; housing societies for water cuts, lift repairs, festival celebrations, parking changes and general body meetings. Colleges, clubs, hostels and resident welfare associations use the same format. Notice writing is also a regular question in school English papers, where students write one for a club or school event. In every case the reader is passing by, glances at the board and needs to know within seconds whether the notice concerns them. An effective notice settles that in its heading and first line.

The shape is much the same everywhere, but the details are set locally. In school exams, CBSE and the State boards each set a word limit and a layout for notice writing, often inside a box, and these change between syllabuses, so follow the current syllabus and sample papers for your board. In a housing society, the bye-laws and the State's co-operative societies law decide who may call a general body meeting and how much notice members must get. In an office, the HR or administration policy decides who may issue and sign a notice.

This is a general notice, not a statutory one. Some notices have forms laid down by law — a company's notice of a general meeting, a notice ending a tenancy, a notice a society's bye-laws require — and they must meet those rules on content, timing and delivery, which a pinned announcement may not. A general notice informs; it does not bind anyone to a contract, and it does not prove that a particular person saw it. Where proof of receipt matters, send the notice to each person and keep their acknowledgments.

What to put in a Notice

These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.

How to write a notice (notice writing format)

1. Head it with the institution and NOTICE

   Put the full name of the school, office or society at the top with its address, then the word NOTICE in capitals, centred. Below it, give a reference number if your institution numbers its notices, and the date of issue. The date is what tells a reader in March that the notice about a February water cut is no longer current.

2. Write a heading that says what it is

   The heading should let a passer-by decide at a glance whether to read on. ‘Annual Sports Day’ or ‘Water Supply Suspended for Tank Cleaning’ does that; ‘Important Notice’ and ‘Attention All’ do not. Keep it to one short line, in capitals or bold, so it stands out from the body. In an exam answer, it sits between the date and the body.

3. Cover what, when, where and who

   In the body, say what is happening, the date and time, the venue, and who it concerns. Name the target audience plainly — ‘all residents of B Wing’, ‘students of Classes IX to XII’ — so everyone else can walk on. Give the day as well as the date and check that they match, because people remember the day and act on it. Write in the third person, in short sentences, as the institution addressing its members, and leave out anything the reader does not need to act on.

4. Tell readers how to respond

   If anything is expected of the reader — giving in names, paying a contribution, moving a car — say what, to whom and by when. Then give contact details with a name, a designation and a phone number or room: ‘For details, contact Ms Lakshmi, Sports Secretary, Room 12’, as an illustration. Without a contact, questions go to whoever happens to be standing nearby.

5. Sign with name and designation, then post it

   End with the name, designation and signature of the person issuing it — the Principal, the Secretary of the society, the Administration Manager — so readers know it is authorised. Pin it where the people concerned will see it, send a copy to the group used for announcements, and keep a copy on file with the date it went up. Take it down once it has expired.

Notice writing examples

Each sample notice below follows the correct format: the name of the institution, the word NOTICE, the date, a heading, the important information in the body, and the name and designation of the person issuing the notice. In an exam answer, draw a box around the notice and keep to your board’s word limit.

Common mistakes

• Heading a notice ‘Important’ or ‘Notice’ with nothing more, so people walk past without realising it concerns them.
• Leaving out the date of issue, which leaves readers unable to tell this year's notice from last year's and acting on the wrong one.
• Giving a day and a date that do not match, which sends part of the audience on the wrong day.
• Going past the word limit or dropping the set layout in a board exam, which costs marks even when the content is right.
• Using a general notice for something the law or bye-laws require in a set form, such as a society's general body meeting, which leaves the meeting and its decisions open to challenge.

Frequently asked questions

This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.

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