.4 Autobiography I attended a large Catholic girls' secondary school in Enfield, North London. When choosing schools, this was never my first preference, but more guided by parental influence and the routine of my two older brothers. Nonetheless, I was extremely excited and eager to start secondary school to finally join my overly "cool" older sisters at school. For many years I spent much of my childhood listening to their conversations about their funny experiences that they shared with their friends at school. school. I felt I would do anything to share those same experiences. The preparation for my first day of secondary school was exhilarating. For many years I had painted all these wonderful, bright, vivid expectations of what I believed it would be like. On the morning of my first day I got out of bed, bright and early, and packed my backpack with all the new, shiny, labeled stationery that I couldn't wait to finally use; while being bombarded with information about what not to do at school from my two older sisters. Finally the day arrived. My parents dropped me and my two sisters off outside the big brass gates, where she waved goodbye. I had a smile that stretched from ear to ear as I walked into school with my sisters. It had quickly disheartened me that my enthusiasm and accumulation over the years was more about fitting in with my sisters than enjoying the benefits of starting a new school. These experiences are vivid enough for me to recognize and identify with pupils who are experiencing the same feelings through a key life cycle transition both inside and outside of school (Pianta and Cox 1999), particularly when subjected to formal national summative tests (CATs Tests). in the first few weeks of… middle of the paper… and Sass 2013)1.5 Conclusion: The importance of strong assessment for learning and supportive teachers has been the key driver in shaping and cultivating my growth intellectually and emotionally (Stiggins, 2002). Following my previous difficulties in accessing assessment (Toping, 2009) during secondary education and my inability to make instinctive correlations with self-assessment to improve (Bell and Cowie, 2001), I was intrigued by the desire to discover methods to bridge this area and develop my personal practice and work to influence all pupils to be able to reach their full potential within Design and Technology at Key Stage 3 (Black and William, 1998) . My personal experiences will undoubtedly influence my judgments. I will therefore admit my biases and aim to consciously adopt an objective view through this planned research.