A school in the region with New Zealand's worst truancy rates says it has created a service which has boosted attendance without costing the Government.
Hora Hora School has stepped in to help whānau who struggle with transport by providing a pick up and drop off van service.
Before it was around, one parent said it was too hard to get her daughter to school.
"It's helped me out a lot, since having no car or anything my daughter's been missing out on a lot of school.
"I felt bad her missing out on school because she really loves going."
Hora Hora School principal Pat Newman said, for some children, no van would mean they wouldn't be in attendance.
Truancy was a big problem in Northland — with the worst rates of attendance in the country.
But in the last two years, Hora Hora School has improved its attendance rates by targeting whānau members not going to school by picking them up and dropping them home.
Newman said the cost of getting these kids to school with the van would add up to about $50,000 per year. The school purchased two vans and hired the drivers.
"These are students who, for no fault of their own, have difficulty getting to school either because they've been out of school for a long time, and didn't have the patterns of coming to school."
The Government this week announced a plan to target a "truancy crisis".
That plan included daily reporting of attendance data, and a traffic light system where measures became tougher as absenteeism continued.
Newman said the plan was "not going to improve anything" because those who read the attendance rates are "the ones that probably already have their kids in the school".
He said the vans were working but the Government needed to put more money into social services.
"There are parents that need to make changes to their parenting. The problem is, there isn't the agencies that can actually help them get to that stage."
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