Within this, however, we were also interested in the changes made in 2013 to the ministry-funded Attendance Service and the impacts this has had on attendance and engagement outcomes. We wanted to hear directly from schools and other stakeholders to ensure we understood this as best as we could. Through this inquiry, we planned to identify examples of effective practice within schools and kura and other parties, where relevant, that have led to strong trends in attendance and engagement in schooling. This would allow us to identify potential strategies that could be implemented to increase attendance and inform the Government's attendance strategy. 