Primary school students are being targeted by anti-vaccine protests and a “provocative” mobile billboard aiming “extreme” messages at them.

Principals in North Canterbury are so concerned about the prevalence of the scaremongering they have raised it with the Ministry of Education.

One principal told Stuff such action was unethical, saying schools were “not the time or the place” for it.

Police were notified about anti-vaccine protesters gathering outside Ashgrove School on Seddon St in Rangiora school at about 2.30pm last Thursday, and they were seen again outside Woodend School on Tuesday, where protesters were shouting to cars driving through the town.

One Woodend resident said an Eco Cottages ute towing a large, professionally-made billboard displaying “really extreme anti-vax stuff” was parked in a “provocative position” outside Woodend School on the first week of term.

“It said, ‘So many children have died, save our children’,” he said.

Colin Wrightman, who runs Eco Cottages in North Canterbury, said he had loaned his vehicle to a group “educating the public”. He threatened to sue Stuff over any reporting.

Clinical trials and real world data show the lower-dose children’s vaccine has an “excellent safety profile”, as opposed to the increased risk for children posed by the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

A father of primary school-aged children, who did not wish to be named, said while most people would ignore the billboard, his concern related to its location, and that it would scare children going to and from school.

He had spotted the same ute and billboard at a previous protest in Rangiora while he was stuck in traffic, saying “you couldn't miss it”.

He also saw it parked outside Rangiora New Life School.

Stephen Walters, principal of the Christian school, told Stuff he was not aware it had been there, but North Canterbury principals had been in meetings with the ministry discussing concerns about anti-vaccine behaviour outside schools.

“While I’m the first to acknowledge people’s right to protest, there's a time and place for it.”

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Schools faced a lot of pressure and stress at the start of the 2022 school year and the billboard, and a protest outside another Rangiora school last week, “doesn't seem very sensitive”, Walters said.

He heard it had upset some children and parents, and he was disappointed anti-vaxxers were “putting children at the centre of your protest”.

“No school, principal, parent or child wants to be confronted outside their school.”

Police attended the Ashgrove School protest “to ensure the safety of everyone involved”, a spokesperson said.

The protesters remained outside the premises and did not need to be removed.

There is a time and place for protesting

Ashgrove School declined to comment, as did another school targeted by the mobile billboard.

Ministry of Education hautū (leader) te tai runga (south) Nancy Bell said it had been advised of protests at North Canterbury schools, as well as at others across the country.

“Schools follow their health and safety policies, and have managed anti-vax protests well to ensure the safety of all.”

They were advised to call police if protesting was not peaceful.

The Woodend father was told by Waimakariri District Council it could do nothing about the billboard.

A call centre worker told him one parent in Sefton had suggested they might “take to it with a spray can”, which they discouraged, warning the parent could face criminal charges for such an act.

A council spokesperson told Stuff on Friday it had received two complaints about the billboard after it was seen in Sefton and Rangiora.

One complaint was made about the way it was parked – “only slightly off the painted line (one tyre over)” – but the vehicle was gone by the time council staff were contacted, and no further action was taken.

Anyone concerned the billboard might scare children could contact police, they said.

Complaints can also be made to the Advertising Standards Authority.