A graph
$\Gamma $ is
$G$-symmetric if
$\Gamma $ admits
$G$ as a group of automorphisms acting transitively on the set of vertices and the set of arcs of
$\Gamma $, where an arc is an ordered pair of adjacent vertices. In the case when
$G$ is imprimitive on
$V(\Gamma )$, namely when
$V(\Gamma )$ admits a nontrivial
$G$-invariant partition
${\mathcal{B}}$, the quotient graph
$\Gamma _{\mathcal{B}}$ of
$\Gamma $ with respect to
${\mathcal{B}}$ is always
$G$-symmetric and sometimes even
$(G, 2)$-arc transitive. (A
$G$-symmetric graph is
$(G, 2)$-arc transitive if
$G$ is transitive on the set of oriented paths of length two.) In this paper we obtain necessary conditions for
$\Gamma _{{\mathcal{B}}}$ to be
$(G, 2)$-arc transitive (regardless of whether
$\Gamma $ is
$(G, 2)$-arc transitive) in the case when
$v-k$ is an odd prime
$p$, where
$v$ is the block size of
${\mathcal{B}}$ and
$k$ is the number of vertices in a block having neighbours in a fixed adjacent block. These conditions are given in terms of
$v, k$ and two other parameters with respect to
$(\Gamma , {\mathcal{B}})$ together with a certain 2-point transitive block design induced by
$(\Gamma , {\mathcal{B}})$. We prove further that if
$p=3$ or
$5$ then these necessary conditions are essentially sufficient for
$\Gamma _{{\mathcal{B}}}$ to be
$(G, 2)$-arc transitive.