How to Keep Records of School Bullying | Sorting Records by Date and Type
When the school's investigation "could not confirm" bullying
After a school is consulted, there are cases where it answers, "We investigated but could not confirm bullying." This answer means the school could not confirm it as fact; it does not necessarily mean that nothing happened.
When no one witnessed the event, the other child denies it, or the date and place are unclear, it becomes harder for the school to establish the facts. The school's judgment depends on the individual circumstances, and having records does not by itself change the conclusion. Records serve as a clue for those consulted to grasp the situation.
A report of a single incident
A report such as "My child says he was kicked in the restroom on [date]" rests only on the child's own account if nothing else can be checked, and tends to remain a standoff once the other side denies it.
If records of different types from the same period are available, the school can set the individual incidents side by side and examine them. Having a set of records and having bullying recognized are separate matters, and it is the school and the relevant authorities that make that judgment.
Types of records that can be kept
Records that tend to remain at hand fall into four types: physical items, digital, health, and changes at school.
| Physical items | Indoor shoes go missing, textbooks are torn or written on, belongings are hidden, school lunch is thrown away |
|---|---|
| Digital | Removal from a LINE group, messages left unread, being ignored or talked about on social media, screenshots of these |
| Health | Stomachaches or vomiting before school, loss of appetite, disrupted sleep, changes in weight, school nurse's office visit records |
| Changes at school | Changes in the number of visits to the nurse's office, when absences and lateness began, changes in grades or assignments, entries in the school-home notebook |
Even if each record could be explained by some other reason, arranging them by date makes it easier to explain to people other than the child what overlapped in which period. Changes in health can have causes other than bullying, so one method is to leave the judgment of cause to doctors or other professionals and write only the symptoms and dates in the record.
Materials for consulting the school
Collected records are easier to refer to during a meeting if they are organized before being handed over, rather than handed over as they are. One method is to divide the materials into three parts: a summary, a timeline, and attached records.
| Summary | About one A4 page. What happened (facts) and guesses are written separately, followed by the matters the school is asked to check and what the family wants. |
|---|---|
| Timeline | Arranged by date, with each record numbered "L01," "L02," and so on. In a meeting, items can be referred to as "regarding L07." |
| Attached records | Screenshots, absence records, nurse's office records, the school-home notebook, and meeting notes, gathered in numerical order. They are kept unedited, with the dates and times visible. |
Asking at the meeting which items will be checked, who is in charge, when an answer will come, and how the reason will be recorded if something cannot be confirmed makes it possible to trace the progress later. The school's answer differs from case to case.
Sample timeline output
This is an example of entering written-out notes into the organizing tool to produce a fact summary and timeline.
1. Overview
Regarding the complainant's (parent's) child (5th grade, boy), trouble with a particular group in the same class began around September 2025, and from October onward belongings were lost or damaged on several occasions. In the same period, stomachaches before school (2 to 3 times a week) and an increase in visits to the nurse's office (September: 0 per month, October: 7, November: 12) were recorded, and in December there were 3 days of absence. The complainant asks the school to confirm the facts, consider measures to prevent recurrence, and put the matter on record.
2. Totals by category
Physical items: 6 / Digital: 4 / Health: 23 (including nurse's office visits) / Changes at school: 8 / Records of the child's statements: 11 / Total: 52 (September 2025 to present)
3. Timeline (excerpt)
| 2025/09/08 | Child's statement | After coming home, said "I don't like B and his friends." Specifically, "They won't let me join in." Written in planner. | [L01 Planner] |
| 2025/09/24 | Physical item | Indoor shoes missing from the shoe locker; found in a restroom stall. Graffiti on the soles. Photographed and saved on a smartphone. | [L02 Photo] |
| 2025/10/03 | Health | Complained of a stomachache before school and stayed in the restroom. Same symptoms on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday that week. | [L03 Planner] |
| 2025/11/07 | Digital | In the class LINE group, only the child's messages continue to go unread. Screenshots saved (3 days, 9 images). | [L06 SS] |
| 2025/12/02–04 | School | Absent 3 days in a row. Reason given: "stomachache." No abnormality found at the hospital (visit record available). | [L08 Visit] |
| 2026/02/03 | School | Meeting with homeroom teacher (requested by the complainant). Teacher's answer: "We investigated but could not confirm the fact of bullying." Meeting content written up the same day. | [L10 Meeting notes] |
4. Record index (numbered)
L01–L11: planner entries (child's statements, health) / L12–L17: photos (damaged or missing items) / L18–L23: LINE screenshots (23 images) / L24: nurse's office visit record / L25: health checkup record / L26–L28: hospital visit records / L29: notes of meeting with homeroom teacher (2026/02/03)
Actual output depends on what is entered. In AI-based organizing, content that was not written can be added and content that was written can be dropped.
Organizing with the organizing tool
In the organizing tool, input is entered in the following order.
- Write out memories and the records at hand. Diaries, notes, copies of LINE messages, photos of the school-home notebook, and so on are written out. Vague memories are written out too and later matched against records whose dates can be checked. Text mixed with feelings can also be entered.
- List the records at hand. Photos, screenshots, the school-home notebook, nurse's office records, hospital visit records, meeting notes, and so on are listed by "name, date, summary of content." Files are not uploaded; everything is entered as text.
- Produce draft timeline and fact summary. From the entered content, the organizing tool produces a draft timeline and fact summary. The output is checked against the original records, and errors and omissions are corrected.
Types of places to consult
Places to consult include the school (including the homeroom teacher and administrators), the board of education (教育委員会) that oversees the school, and lawyers. Where to consult and which materials to bring differ depending on the situation and the place consulted.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual case.