Secondary Case · Online Radicalisation

Operation Northwall

A 15-year-old has started using language and ideas that worry his English teacher. Students review the case file, recognise the warning signs of online radicalisation, and write a professional safeguarding assessment recommending what the police unit should do next.

Age Group: 14+ (Secondary)

Focus: Online radicalisation · Grooming · Evidence-based safeguarding

Safeguarding notice

This case deals with online radicalisation and grooming, including how an adult builds a relationship with a young person to draw them into extremist ideas. Recommended for ages 14 and over. The teacher pack includes a full safeguarding setup: framing language to read aloud, a disclosure protocol if a student raises a personal concern, and aftercare guidance for any student visibly affected. Read the teacher instructions in full before delivering.

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Buy once, then run the case year after year. Use it with as many groups as you want, whenever it fits your timetable.

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Case Overview

Operation Northwall

Operation Northwall is set in the fictional coastal town of Anchors Bay. Daniel Ashcroft, 15, has been a quiet, reliable student. Then his English teacher reads his latest piece of creative writing and recognises language that does not belong to him. Phrases lifted from somewhere else. A worldview that arrived almost overnight.

Across 18 evidence documents (school records, witness statements, intelligence briefings, digital forensics, a recovered messaging extract) students piece together how a 15-year-old gets drawn into an online extremist movement, who is doing the recruiting, and what a multi-agency safeguarding response looks like. The case is structured around the same skill that drives every TDE investigation: read the evidence carefully, see the pattern, write a clear professional assessment that names the threat and recommends a response.

What Students Learn

The skills and understanding built into the case

Recognise

The warning signs of online radicalisation

How indicators appear in the real world: sudden language changes, withdrawal from school and friends, secrecy around devices, association with online figures who treat the young person as special.

Lexicon adoption and the in-group voice
Behavioural changes that signal grooming
The role of online platforms in recruitment

Understand

How grooming actually works online

The recruitment pipeline a real radicalisation network uses: validation, secret-knowledge framing, in-group identity, escalation toward action. Why the right response is protection of the young person, not blame.

The four-tier hierarchy and how progression works
Why a peer is rarely a peer
Victim-first framing in safeguarding

Read

Evidence carefully and across sources

How no single document tells the full story. How separate pieces of evidence (school, police, intelligence, forensics, friends) form a clear pattern when read together. How to weigh credibility and resist jumping to conclusions.

Source grading and intelligence reliability
Cross-referencing witness accounts
Distinguishing pattern from coincidence

Write

A professional safeguarding response

Students produce a structured assessment in the voice of an officer: name the issue, cite the evidence, recommend a multi-agency response. Calm, factual, defensible. The kind of writing real safeguarding work demands.

Evidence-anchored argument
Recommending action, not blame
The professional register expected in safeguarding

How the Case Runs

Three to four lessons, from open file to written assessment

Open the File

Frame the case using the teacher script. Hand out the evidence documents and let students start reading.

Build the Picture

Students work through the evidence individually or in pairs, taking notes on what they see and where the pattern starts to emerge.

Write & Resolve

Students complete the written assessment. Once submitted, hand out the resolution pack to reveal what really happened to Daniel.

Everything Included

Your Case Pack

13 Evidence Documents

Police memo, witness statements, school records, intelligence briefings, digital forensics, and the recovered messaging extract.

Written Assessment Task

The structured task sheet students complete in the voice of an officer reviewing the case.

Resolution Pack

Four follow-up documents revealing how the case played out and what real safeguarding outcomes look like.

Teacher Instructions

Full safeguarding setup, framing language, disclosure protocol, lesson timing, and aftercare guidance.

Teacher Answer Key

Model student response, marking checklist, evidence map, and anticipated questions with suggested answers.

Teacher Glossary

Plain-English definitions of every specialist term in the case, grouped by theme for easy reference.

Access anywhere online

Download and print freely

Reuse year after year

What Teachers Say

Feedback from secondary classrooms

It gave my students a structured way to talk about something they hear about in the news but have never been asked to think through. The case framing made the topic feel manageable.

The case file format is the best version of this kind of lesson I have seen. Students engaged because the evidence felt real, and the writing they produced was the strongest of the year.

The teacher pack does the hard work for you. Safeguarding setup, disclosure protocol, framing language. I delivered this with confidence on a topic I had been nervous about.

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