About 40 parents held a protest on Richmond Road School on the first day of term.

Parents, students and community members of a central Auckland school marked the first day of the school year with a protest about the school's Maori bilingual unit.

About 40 parents of Richmond Road School students staged an hour-long protest in front of the Grey Lynn school this morning.

Angela Madden-Smith, whose three children went through the school's bilingual unit Te Whanau Whariki, said the unit was not being properly resourced and staff had been treated poorly.

The primary school started Maori, Samoan and Cook Island Maori bilingual units in the 1970s and established a French unit in 1996.

Madden-Smith, who had been involved with the school since 1999, said it had a "world-renowned" bilingual unit but recent principals had "no idea" about bilingual education.

One bilingual teacher had been told during the last hour of school in 2014 there was no longer a job available for her at the school, Madden-Smith said.

Two people who approached management about the staffing issue were understood to have been escorted off the premises by police.

A parent wearing a sign that said "I have no confidence" last year was believed to have been issued a trespass order.

There had been a lack of transparency surrounding changes to the school's charter and enrolment policy, Madden-Smith said.

The issues relating to the management of the Maori bilingual unit had been ongoing for the past year.

During that time three mediators had tried to help the school and parents resolve the issue.

The protest was a "last resort", she said.

Madden-Smith said the protest was peaceful and those demonstrating alerted police to the event ahead of time.

In a letter sent to parents and community members yesterday, the school's Board of Trustees chairwomen Agnes Loheni said the changes made to the bilingual unit last year were "generally related to budgets, policies and staffing".

The board and new principal Jonathan Ramsay believed the decisions were in the children's best interests, Loheni said.

"We believe that for our school to have a strong future, we need to have sustainable budgets and staffing across all areas of the school."

The school had sought advice and guidance from the Ministry of Education and the New Zealand School Trustees Association, which had supported the school's actions, she said.

Ramsay and the board would be working to resolve matters and expected to have an update on the situation early next month, Loheni said.

Loheni said the school acknowledged the group's concerns but reiterated that she felt the changes made last year were in the best interests of the 63 students enrolled in the Maori bilingual unit.

The board had reviewed its spending across the entire school to ensure a "strong future" for the school, including its bilingual units.

It was important to maintain "sustainable" budgets and staffing levels, Loheni said.

Fixed-term positions were reviewed annually, generally at the end of each year, to ensure schools stayed within their overall budgets and allocated resources to the areas of most need.

No complaints had been received from teachers or teachers' union NZEI about the school's culture.

Loheni said the board took its employment and health and safety obligations seriously and felt its processes were in line with best practice.

The board would continue to work to resolve the issue and in the meantime would focus on the students to ensure a "fun and settled" start to the school year.

Stuff has approached the school for comment.