Sellwood Bilingual Daycare & Preschool

Our 16 mth old has been at Sellwood Bilingual for 3 months now. We really appreciate the great energy and attitudes of all the care givers here. They have a great outdoor play area and the kids get plenty of free play time outside which means the world to us. Every time I pick her up she looks so happy and engaged. I am so grateful to have found this place. They also include parents in neat holiday events! Fun and community oriented.

Our 19m old son has been enrolled for 6 months at Sellwood Bilingual. I had some initial reservations because the school was not quite as spotlessly clean as I wanted, but the longer my son has been at the school, the more I realize how little that mattered. Our son loves going to daycare. It took about a month for him to adjust, but once he did, he loved going there. He is learning to speak and understand Spanish faster than we had expected. He comes home happy and obviously well cared for. No diaper rash or other signs of any neglect. The teachers, especially the head teachers Julie and Miriam, are absolutely wonderful. My only serious anxiety about the daycares these days is that the teachers will retire or move away. They seem to care for our son as if he were their own, fussing over his clothes and shoes and gently reprimanding us if we don’t have enough clothes or the proper weather gear. At first I thought it was annoying to be told what «my son!» needed, but over time I came to love their concern and found it really heartwarming that they cared enough to speak up for him if I didn’t have the right gear for the snow or rain. My wife and I could not be more pleased with the quality of care at the daycare. The only improvements we would like would be if the daycare had a website and possibly even a daycare cam. It would be nice to be able to check in and see what he is up to sometimes in the weird culture of munchkins that make up a daycare.

My son has been at Sellwood Bilingual Daycare and Preschool since he was five months old. He’s five years old now, and we have had very positive experiences with both locations (infant site and preschool). When C was a baby, he was very well cared for; he got lots of love and attention throughout the day and was always happy when I picked him up. Communication about his day was clear and consistent.
At the preschool, where he started at two-​and-​a-​half, he began more formal language instruction. The day is very structured, with some writing and math along with special classes in art, drama, music, and even yoga. We have conferences where we’re able to see his progress toward kindergarten-​readiness, and now that he’s older, his daily reports include behavior, listening skills, and how he treated his friends that day. His Spanish language skills are great, and he’s right on track for starting kindergarten in the fall.
The sites, as mentioned, look like in-​home daycare, but what you get inside is much better. No TV, play time AND structure, and truly caring teachers are what brought me to SBCP and kept me there.

The communication and organizational skills are very poor. I left a voicemail and it took several calls for someone to get back to me. I finally left a message with my email and phone number, per the staff member’s request. Pillar sent the email to the wron address. Finally, I got the email, but it did not contain the info I asked for. For example, pricing and address of the infant center. I was abel to schedule a tour with the director, Pillar. The ten minutes before the tour, Pillar called to tell me she would not make the tour, but a teacher would show us around. At this point I did not have a good feeling about this place! Very flaking and unorganized. The tour was fine. The place was fine. I have worked in daycares before and new what to expect. I liked the home enviroment. I did have many options and even though my gut told me not to, I decide to email Pillar and ask for an enrollement package. She never emailed one to me or mailed one to me, even after confirming my mailing address.
Terrible. I learned a very important lesson. Always, Always, ALWAYS go with your gut!

Wow. Not sure what to say about Sellwood Bilingual.
Our daughter had a private nanny from birth on. but around 18 months we realized we were paying for our nanny to take Ella to activities with other kids almost every day and that she needed more company than one nanny.
We looked on the State of Oregon Childcare Referral website and urbanmommas website. and both places rated it highly.
I was a little turned off at first, as the daycare (and now preschool) are housed in what look like private homes. but the insides are remodeled to meet the needs of the kids who attend each one.
First of all, the daycare and preschool have the states highest certification level as a teaching institution. All of the staff are background checked and many are certified teachers from outside the USA.
My daughter was in the daycare from 18 months to 25 months and absolutely loved it. IT’s in our neigborhood and very convenient, priced great, and provides outstanding care and instruction.
Ella not only learned how to play with other kids, she did it in spanish!
Our daughter was able to count to 20 and do her ABC’s, in English and Spanish, before she transferred to the preschool in October.
In the past month, her oral and verbal language skills have grown by leaps and bounds. Pilar Pinnell has created an excellent educational model for young children, and she stated that a majority of the kids in the program are writing by age 3.5 (in english and spanish).
In Summary, if you want a safe and engaging place for your little one during the day (7am-​530ish), and don’t just want your little one to sit in front of a tv all day. then this is the place for you.
I’m willing to provide a more detailed recommendation if you like. I feel that strongly about this place!!!