Edendale Primary School has 133 pupils and three part-time teacher aides funded through Ministry of Education Learning Support, but it was nowhere near enough.
Acting principal Jenny Coyle said the teacher aides could "easily" be given full-time work, but the funding was not there.
"We certainly have numerous students whose learning would benefit from the extra support."
Teachers who had time with a teacher aide noticed the huge difference it made as it allowed more time to be spent with struggling students, she said.
"We simply can not work one-to-one with every child and it is impossible to do everything we would like to do for every child."
Staff at the school wore purple on Learning Support Awareness Day on August 29 to bring attention to the issues faced within New Zealand schools.
The attention was sought because of the lack of adequate support for all learners, especially those who struggled and had diverse learning needs.
As to a fix to the problem, Mrs Coyle would like to see one streamlined funding source to apply to.
"It would save a lot of time for teachers [and] principals.
"Every service provider at the moment has different forms to fill out and requires different documentation or evidence."
A lot of time was often spent on applications, only to have them turned down as all the funding had already been allocated.
Ministry of Education learning support staffing has a 16% vacancy rate.
There were many needs for each child in a classroom, Mrs Coyle said.
"There are students who might only be six months behind their expected targets, yet others who are one to two years behind. When teachers have extra support to help boost those learners, it can make a huge difference."
The school was getting new enrolments who had poor oral language, poor gross and fine-motor skills and poor behaviour, she said.
Edendale Primary School year 1 and 2 teacher Abby Duffy also had the role of Special Education needs co-ordinator (Senco).
One of the issues was the demand for support outweighed available funding, Mrs Duffy said.
"We are very fortunate that our Home and School Association helps to fund teacher aide support at Edendale School, which makes a big difference. However, we could definitely benefit from more funding."
Last year, the school applied for in-class support funding for six pupils.
Only one application was successful.
Wyndham Primary School principal Catherine Lewis said their school Board of Trustees had committed to smaller class sizes.
"Investing in quality professional learning for our growing staff and to making sure that all programmes and resources are best practice and best quality for our students."
So much "fast-paced change" in the school sector was driven by government policy, she said.
"I would be very surprised if funding and staffing shortages were not being experienced by all schools."
Ministry of Education leader operations and integration Sean Teddy said schools had the autonomy to decide how they spent their funding to best meet the needs of their learners.
"Learning support is based on understanding the strengths and needs of children within the context in which they learn, not on a diagnosis or disability.
"Many ākonga (pupils) have their learning support needs met by staff within their local schools, with the majority of the more than $1.3 billion of Learning Support funding being provided directly to schools."
In April, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced six priorities for education. One of those targeted effective learning support interventions for students with additional needs.
