Celebrating the Samoan Language

Nestled just a few minutes from the banks of the Whau River in Tāmaki Makaurau sits Tupulaga Mo A Taeao, a place where Fa’a Samoa is thriving and celebrated. A team of four teachers and one teaching assistant  (with Toipua Schuster at the helm), are the mountains that bless Tupulagao mo a Taeao (Future Generations) – the Samoan bilingual unit of Te Kura o Pātiki Rosebank Primary School. Tamaiti (children) from Year one through to Year six are taught to not only achieve academic success in the New Zealand Curriculum, but to also embrace, celebrate and honour their Samoan culture, language and ancestors.

Toipua Schuster and her team of hardworking faiaoga (teachers) work holistically, focusing not just on the child who comes to school, but the whole whānau, or aiga (family) around them too – recognising and respecting the value of aiga in a child’s life, and the knowledge and guidance that elders provide. Toipua speaks to the Gagana Samoa theme for 2026, telling us that when the mountains are stable, balanced, and plentiful, then so too are the villagers. This is reflected throughout Te Kura o Pātiki, Toipua says, from the Board Members and Principal to the teachers, flowing down through to the students and the community around them.

Tupualaga mo a Taeao (Future Generations) has been running for over two decades now, for so long that no one could give us a definitive answers as to when it started as for them, it’s just always been a part of their lives. It was however, the first Samoan bilingual classroom to open in West Auckland, starting with only one classroom, which has now grown to fill four classrooms, covering the entire Primary School curriculum. Their name Tupualaga mo a Taeao means ‘Future Generations’, a name that was picked out in the early days of the bilingual unit, and the team has never found cause to change it, as each new cohort that comes through the school doors, is another chance to impact and guide another new future generation.

Each tamati (child) in Tupualaga mo a Taeao is equipped with the knowledge of their ancestors as wayfinders, navigators and guardians – and learns the importance of the roles their ancestors play in their lives today. Toipua and her team do this mahi in a variety of ways, and Tuia Waitakere has been honoured to have been included in this journey, having been invited to share our Wayfinding Leadership programme with them. This initiative is a framework rooted in Pacific indigenous knowledge, which was inspired by mahi done by Chellie Spiller and Hotorua Barclay-Kerr, which is centred on identity and belonging through the concept of the vaka.

For the tamaiti and faiaoga (teachers) at Te Kura o Pātaki, each one of the 30+ cultures and ethnicities that are represented in the school are proudly celebrated – something that Toipua tells us is a ‘must do’ for everyone. Toipua talked to us about how essential it was that all cultures were celebrated in the school, and that without one’s language, there is only darkness – if you lose your language, you lose your identity.  

We spoke with several of the students of Tupualaga mo a Taeao about their thoughts on Samoan Language Week, and what they loved about being Samoan. We heard a lot about their excitement for the upcoming showcase and performances they had planned, things they loved about Samoa and the food and land, but one quote stuck out long after we’d left the students to continue with their school day. The smallest of tamaiti was asked what she was excited about for Samoan Language Week and she just shrugged and answered with a a statement that seemed obvious to her, but to us, reflects the result of all the hard work that has gone into creating this space for tamaiti to learn in and with their culture:  

 “I just love being Samoan.”