The Goddard School of Portland (Bethany)

"The Goddard School at Bethany is wonderful! the staff are friendly and great with my child, the cleanliness of the school has always been top tier and they have lots of extra activities that they offer at the school for the kids which I think is really great."

"My husband and I were very satisfied with our daughter's time at The Goddard School. We found the team to be prompt, reliable, and helpful. Our daughter's teacher was incredibly warm and nurturing. We would definitely recommend the Bethany location to other families."

"We decided to write this review to share our disappointing experience with Goddard. It had several pros to us, it seemed like good communication, nice facility, and we loved the location. We got on their waitlist even though it is more costly than many daycares out there and the waitlist fee (they call registration fee) was higher than average too- $300. We were told that we would likely get at least a part-time spot in the 2 year old classroom by September. This did not happen due to staffing shortages, and so just want to warn other families that if you do decide to get on the Goddard waitlist, please do-so carefully. In addition, be sure that you have some back up childcare too, as we are now out $300 and have to find childcare elsewhere."

"I noticed a lack of recent reviews, and seeing how today was my son’s last day at Goddard before moving onto kindergarten, I thought I should leave one. We moved to the west side in mid-November from the Gresham area. It was a big move and I knew I had to reserve a spot for my son for daycare months in advance since all daycares are using waitlists these days. I was nervous picking a place in advance that I hadn’t seen in person and that had no recent reviews, but I’d heard good things about Goddard schools and it was very close to my house, so we chose it. I can only speak to the “Sunflowers” classroom for 4 year olds. My son has a hard time with change and transitions, so moving across town to a new house/neighborhood/school was rough on him. Mrs. Maria and Mrs. Kay in the 4 year olds class were so patient with my son when he cried every morning and didn’t want to participate right away. They gave him his space and let him calm down and join the group when he was ready, which I appreciated. I liked that they ran the room like a preschool (not a daycare) with a curriculum that gradually increased in difficulty to prepare them for Kindergarten. This helped my son a lot. He started out hating writing/drawing/arts & crafts, and by “graduation” in June, he enjoyed them much more and actually requested for me to get him art supplies. This was my son’s 3rd daycare and I was very impressed that they taught about chess, ASL, Spanish, yoga poses, even typing skills. The other two schools he went to did not teach any of that. I loved the app they used to communicate with families so I could see daily photos of my son and leave notes for the teacher. I appreciated the parent/teacher conference in the spring, and the adorable graduation ceremony in June. They also offer optional extra-curriculars like tumbling with outside companies who come to the school (for an extra fee). Regarding COVID - They did their best to follow state COVID safety protocols. Yes, my son did eventually get it from another student in his class, but that was inevitable with how contagious it is this summer. Plus the state dropped the mask mandate (the school follows whatever the state requires) and my son refused to keep wearing his mask at school, so it was bound to happen eventually. I was just impressed he went there from November through August with only one direct exposure! The only downside I could find is that the school does not have a kitchen, so you do have to send your child with a lunch from home daily. They do however provide AM and PM snack. By August, my son loved going to school and had grown/improved so much. I feel he is 100% ready for kindergarten (and I used to teach K). Many thanks to Maria, Kay, Lisa, and Jill for all of their work and patience/kindness with young children, especially with my son who had to transfer in mid-year and was extremely anxious about it. We appreciate you!"

"We have two children that have attended Goddard. The oldest was very prepared for Kindergarten when she graduated. She made great friends there, and is still in contact with several of them now. Our youngest is currently in the preschool program and we are thrilled with the teachers and the progress he is making."