Buddhist Meditation. At the Samye Ling Buddhist Centre, near Dumfries, Ani Lahmo leads a voluntary session of meditation, to enable visitors from a school to get the feeling for themselves of the benefit of the practice. They report that it calms the mind, and enables them to relax.

Secular 'prayer'. Expressing emotion and joining in ritual action, for example when someone has been bereaved, might be parallel to religious prayer: it's certainly an activity that anyone can join in for themselves, and that might be helpful in circumstances of stress. How does a school help pupils cope when a young person from the community dies?

Christian prayer. 'Ninth hour' is a prayer and worship event in Newcastle. It attracts a crowd of a thousand young people for an evening of prayer. The event tries to help people see that a young Christian could actually walk and talk with God any day, every day. The event's leaders suggest that God is intimate and personal, found in everyday life and listening to everything people pray.

The programme uses the 'voice of the expert' and some young people's own voices and ideas about prayer to open up questions for the classroom about the topic.

When might you use this?

When studying prayer, beliefs about God, Christian and / or Buddhist practice or spirituality, or death and loss.

· Describe clearly some ways in which different kinds of prayer are significant to people including Christians, Buddhists and the non-religious

· Explain the significance of some contrasting examples of prayer from a range of communities and perspectives.

· Consider questions about the meaning and value of prayer in the light of their learning.

· Think carefully about the phenomena of answered prayer and unanswered prayer.
· Have an opportunity to use the written forms of prayer in a creative way for themselves.

Relevant QCA RE units

7A Where do we look for God?
9C Why do we suffer?