A concerned parent says his two children were left terrified after an incident at Kaimai School.

Students were put into lockdown after a trespasser acting erratically made his way onto school grounds.

Parents were alerted of the incident by text and email on the morning of Tuesday, March 9.

In a letter addressed to parents and whanau, Kaimai School principal Justin Bertrand stated a man, unknown to staff, entered the reception area. The statement read that it became immediately clear the male in question 'was unwell in a number of ways”.

The trespasser informed staff at the school that he had slept rough in Tauriko the previous night and was walking across the Kaimai Range to attend an appointment in Hamilton in April.

Whilst the school assessed the risk as 'low-moderate”, they decided to take no chances and placed pupils into lockdown in their classrooms.

They remained in lockdown until 11.40am.

'We had a man walk off the highway and into our school,” confirms Justin.

'He was mentally unstable and needed a place to rest.

'He had plans to walk to Hamilton, which obviously wasn't a good idea. We called the police and locked all the classrooms as a precaution until he was collected.”

A father of two pupils at the school, who wished to remain anonymous, says he was alerted to the issue by text at about midday on Tuesday.

He's complimentary of the school's response to the incident.

'The school did the right thing,” he says.

'The safety of the children is of paramount importance.

'The staff were as worried for the children, as they were for this gentleman. There was some deep concern for his well-being.”

He says his two children, aged 11 and nine, were deeply affected by the incident.

'They both got through the rest of the day but when they got home, they had a big breakdown and a cry. They were really shook up by it. Being in lockdown for nearly three hours without knowing what is going on, is going to spook any child.

'My eldest was an hour late going to school the following morning. He refused to get ready for school, he refused to pack his lunch. I couldn't get through to him.

'My wife managed to sit down with him after I took my youngest in to school. She talked to him for a while and it transpired he was really scared to go to school.”

Police have confirmed they were alerted to the presence of the intruder shortly after 9am on Tuesday.

They state there was no indication of any threat or safety concern to anybody other than the person in question. The school was asked to contact police again if the situation changed.

However, the school's principal has confirmed police were not immediately informed the school had placed the students into lockdown.

'Around 11am the school called back and notified police the school had been in lockdown for two hours and asked when police were likely to attend,” says a police spokesperson.

'Shortly after this, police were on scene and speaking with the man, who was later given a ride to another address by police.”

The incident lasted for about two hours and forty minutes.

The concerned parent believes the fact police were unaware of the lockdown situation is a moot point.

'You would hope that if a phonecall went in from a school, whether they had gone into lockdown or not, the police would want to attend pretty sharpish to ensure public safety was being maintained rather than being reactionary.

'If I had a fire in my kitchen and rang the fire brigade and said ‘my kitchen is on fire I'll try and put it out with water' and they said ‘sweet, ring us back if the house burns down'. Surely it is the same principle?

'It's ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff.”

The school's principal has confirmed that the man in question, of whom the staff at Kaimai School also had serious concerns regarding his well-being, is said to be back in Tauranga.

The parent in question is also happy to hear that the unwelcome visitor to school grounds is back in Tauranga and off the road.

However, he remains disappointed with the police response.

'Thankfully nothing happened. I know the police are woefully underesourced in this city and I have no ill-feeling toward them.

'Thankfully we don't live in America where this sort of thing happens. But a three hour response time? Anything could have happened.”