Rick Hansen Secondary School has been recognized for its pro-active approach to school safety.

Stop A Bully, a Canada-wide anti-bullying reporting program, selected the Abbotsford school as the recipient of a 2011 Safe School Award for its efforts against school bullying.

Stop A Bully is a program developed to allow any student who is a victim of, or a witness to, bullying to be able to safely report it to school officials without fear of becoming a target themselves.

"Principal Julie Rousseau of Rick Hansen Secondary has shown that her school has made confronting school bullying and creating a safe school environment a top priority, which includes using the Stop A Bully safe reporting system," said program founder Trevor Knowlton.

"We are very pleased to be recognized for our ongoing efforts in providing a safe learning environment for all our students here at Rick Hansen Secondary," said Hansen principal Julie Rousseau.

Bullying is no longer a problem faced solely within the educational environment, she said. Secondary schools must deal with students use of online social media. Hansen has taken measures to educate students, parents and staff about the ethical use of social media and employed Stop A Bully so reports can be filed anonymously online.

? For more details on Stop A Bully see www.StopABully.ca.