"We're finding absences occurring because of there being no food," Mr Rasmussen said.
He said absences increased after the weekend because families didn't have enough money for food. He said many of the children at his school came from large families and they couldn't afford weekly shopping from the supermarket and would buy their essentials from their nearest dairy.
COMMENT ON THIS STORY BELOW
Mr Rasmussen said the school, its board of trustees as well as community organisations and charities were trying to combat the school's poverty problem and offered pupils food and clothing through different programmes.
The school has this week started a soup kitchen on Mondays, which provides children with a warm meal after the weekend. "All we ask kids to do is bring a plastic cup from home."
Mr Rasmussen said he bought a pack of soup mix every Monday to mix with vegetables for soup for the children.
He said the board of trustees started providing students with lunches such as macaroni and cheese last term for $2. He said making meals in bulk meant they could offer it at a cheap cost for the kids.
"We're not looking to make profit from that, we're just looking to provide a lunch. It happens everyday."
"We are finding that it is increasingly difficult for our parents to make ends meet."
He said the school also provided breakfasts for the pupils every day with the support of Rotary Lakes and different trusts funding it. Kids Can Charitable Trust, which provides food, shoes and raincoats for the pupils of low decile schools across New Zealand, gives Sunset Primary School pupils shoes, rain coats and jackets as well as nut bars and fruit pottles, which are handed out to kids without a lunch. The school was also part of the Fruits in Schools programme, which provides fruit to children at interval. "Some kids come everyday for things like that."
Mr Rasmussen said there were also pupils at his school who didn't go without anything and if other children were hungry, shared their lunches with them.
John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh said families were struggling to cover costs with tough economic times. He said high unemployment and a low minimum wage, meant families weren't coping financially. He believed lifting the minimum wage would help reduce poverty in Rotorua.
"There's a new type of class developing, the working class who just can't make ends meet.
"We know that from our feedback that parents are really struggling, struggling to pay mortgages, pay for food on their table ... electricity."
He said consequences included children missing out on school equipment, uniforms, meals and playing sports.
"We've noticed students aren't playing sports because the subs are quite high."
Mr Walsh urged families who were struggling to not "suffer in silence" and ask for help from a school.
A Service and Food Workers Union-backed campaign has been launched for a "living wage" in New Zealand, inspired by policies in United States cities and London. The Living Wage Aotearoa NZ campaign is drawing support from unions, churches, Pacific, women's and community groups.