Lancashire SACRE Religious Education Support Assessing RE: What does level two look like? This presentation provides materials and ideas for gathering examples of evidence of pupils’ achievements at level two of the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus 8 level scale

What skills are characteristic of level 2? Level two is characterised by these skills: Retelling religious stories and responding sensitively to religious materials Pupils:  use some religious words and phrases to identify some features of religious traditions and their importance for some people;  begin to identify some similarities in religions.  retell some religious stories and suggest meanings found in them.  recognise their own and others values, simply;  recognise that some questions cause people to wonder and are difficult to answer.  respond sensitively to (religious) questions about their own and others’ experiences and feelings. (AT 2 in italics)

Remember:  A single piece of work doesn’t show all of the achievements that are characteristic of the level. The examples that follow are most helpful if they are taken together.  Evidence may come from written work, or many other sources. Here we show what can be shared.  Judging levels is a criterion-referenced ‘art’ rather than a science. Teachers’ judgements are the most important because teachers know pupils best.  Many teachers will find the syllabus guidance on ‘I can…’ statements on CD2 of the Lancashire Syllabus very helpful.  Work may relate to any aspect of the field of enquiry: some work here connects to shared human experience, or beliefs and values, or living religious traditions or the search for personal meaning. Some examples connect more than one element of the field of enquiry.

In this piece of work, Hamza, 8, shows that he can respond to a question about God for himself.  Hamza chose to enter the ‘Art in Heaven’ competition under the theme ‘Where is God?’ (see  His picture and words show that he can give his own answer to a religious question clearly.  He has used Islamic rules in this work, making no image of the divine, and expressing two Muslim ideas about ‘Allah everywhere’ and ‘Allah all-seeing’.  It’s a good example of the impact of a living belief system on a pupils’ life at level 2.

In this piece of work, Gabrielle, 6, shows that she can respond sensitively to the Christian nativity story for herself  Gabrielle was asked to choose and illustrate the turning point of the nativity story, the most important part of the story for her.  Her picture catches not just some detail, but also some emotion in the story. She makes a good personal connection to the story, and gives a piece of information about where the story comes from in her writing.  The care, detail and skill she brings to the work is evident in this outcome at level 2.  The work enables her simply to link her search for personal meaning with a living belief system.

In this piece of work, Bethany, 6, shows that she can respond sensitively to the characters in the Christian nativity story  Bethany had listened to, sung about and enacted the story of Jesus, born in a manger  Bethany makes her suggestions about how the characters in the story felt and what they thought.  The characters’ thoughts are imagined by Bethany is some details.  The work shows a sensitive personal response to a key story of the Christian tradition. “What is it like to be a mum?” “Congratulations. Let’s make this baby special” “I am so happy that the manger is clean” “It is amazing that the angel sent us here”

In this piece of work, Bradley, 7, shows that he can retell a religious story through his words and picture.  Bradley writes: “Jesus calmed the sea, and the fishermen caught lots of fish. It was a miracle. Jesus told the fishermen ‘I want you to stop catching fish and catch people now.’ The fishermen became Jesus’ disciples.”  His short summary of the story includes key ideas, and his correct use of terms like ’miracle’ and ‘disciple’ is a strength of his work at level 2  Bradley suggests the meaning in the story through his last sentence (AT2).

In this piece of work, class 2 show that they can identify features of the practice of using the Lord’s Prayer and respond sensitively to the ideas in it.  Teaching explored the meaning of each line of the Lord’s Prayer for Christians.  The group of pupils suggested, then discussed and refined, simple versions of each of the lines.  Their ‘version’ of the prayer for 4 year olds picks out key ideas: E.g. “God is a kind father, if people obey God, the world will be as good as heaven, please keep me safe”  This is evidence that the pupils are beginning to make sense of a religious text as a group, responding sensitively to questions of meaning at level 2

In this piece of work, Olivia, 7, shows she can recognise her own values and the values of the Buddhists, responding sensitively to some questions.  Olivia identifies that, to solve a problem she would tell a teacher, or ask someone being unkind to stop, or tell the police  She also identifies that Buddhist teaching might lead a Buddhist to get a plaster, be helpful, to ‘sort it all out’  She shows that she can respond sensitively to people in trouble for herself at level 2.

In this further piece of work, Olivia, 7, shows she can recognise her own values and the values of the Buddhists, responding sensitively to some questions.  Olivia identifies here that the Buddha is a source of authority in the religion.  She identifies similarities between her ideas and a Buddhist idea, simply (she is beginning to make level 3 links here)  She shows that she can respond sensitively to people in trouble for herself, thinking about questions of value. The first column shows what Olivia would do faced with a hurt pet (look after it), a plate of meat (eat it all), or two children fighting (tell the teacher). The second column says what a Buddhist would do (look after it because Buddha sais so, they would not eat it because they are vegetarian, the Buddhist [would] stop it).

In this piece of work, Sam and Nathan (both 7) show they are able to respond sensitively to a puzzling question of diversity  The teacher told the class about the ‘Interfaith Week of Prayer for World Peace’ and talked about what we do when we disagree with people.  She asked the class to design some promotional goods to support the Week. Nathan and Sam designed this mug, with humans, flowers and the world as logos.  They said: “If you use the mug a lot it reminds you that we are all different. But we don’t have to fight.” This shows a sensitive response to questions of diversity at level 2.

Thanks to teachers and pupils  Lancashire SACRE would like to thank all the teachers and pupils who have contributed to this project, and consultant Lat Blaylock of RE Today.  Comments on the project and the examples are welcome: send them to SACRE via the Lancashire RE consultant Helen Harrison.  These materials are © Lancashire SACRE and RE Today, Lancashire schools may use them freely, but other use is by written permission only.