Your School
Cadence Academy Preschool is proud to be a part of the Cadence Education Family of Schools. One of the main benefits of working with Cadence Education is that it provides us access to preschool programs like Kind Child, the Ascend Curriculum, and Kindergarten Club.
Cadence Academy Preschool, Milwaukie is located in the Westmoreland district in Southeast Portland. Our preschool center features beautifully designed classrooms, a community room with a lending library, an indoor gross motor area, a children’s garden, and an outdoor enrichment area. Our Milwaukie location is 1 of 5 Cadence Academy Preschool in the Portland Metropolitan Area.
We are proud to offer Portland families media-free child care services with healthy menus and small class sizes. Our philosophy is to enrich children’s lives through the creative arts and leading early childhood educational programs. Our focus is on the social, emotional, and intellectual development of each child in our care and creating a progressive, positive environment for children, staff, and families.
Our preschool center was carefully designed with soothing colors, lots of natural light, age-appropriate equipment in every classroom, and murals painted by our featured artist, Stephen Williams. We have beautiful commercial kitchen with a chef who prepares a healthy lunch every day and snacks in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon. There’s a laundry facility on-site to launder soiled clothes and cloth diapers. This school also features an indoor gross motor skills area for those rainy Oregon days and a community room for enrolled families, which has a comfortable area for nursing mothers.
Thanks to the flexibility of our Ascend Curriculum, we take an individualized approach to early childhood education and encourage every child to progress towards age-appropriate goals at their natural pace. New skills are introduced sequentially in 9 different learning domains each month and activities are modified to fit the interests and current skill level of each child. This skill-based approach to early education ensures that every child feels engaged, supported, and challenged and makes learning fun!
Another significant part of our curriculum is our Kind Child program. Kind Child is a year-long program for children ages two and older that helps our teachers nurture and strengthen every child’s social and emotional skills. We have found that when we focus on the emotional well-being of each child in our care, we strengthen our school as well. We are confident that Kind Child will continue to strengthen the culture of our entire preschool center by elevating every child’s feelings of happiness, improving their well-being, and enriching their friendships.
We hope you will become involved by participating in classroom activities, joining us on field trips, and attending school events. Your participation broadens our child care programs and benefits our children and staff in a very special way. Parents are always welcome to visit their children at any time.
Nicole Sideris is the Director at Cadence Academy Preschool, bringing 17 years of passion and experience in early childhood education to her role. She earned her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education: Birth to Five with a focus on Special Education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an endorsement in English as a Second Language from Doane College. Nicole began her career in ECE in 2009 and has built a rich and varied background, spending a decade with Head Start and gaining valuable experience in Montessori and Reggio-inspired schools. Most recently, she served as a Lead Teacher and Inclusion Specialist at Childswork Learning Centers in Portland, where she relocated in October 2025.
Nicole is deeply passionate about the remarkable growth children experience between birth and five, and she finds it a true honor to be part of a family’s very first experience with education. She is thrilled to step into a leadership role where she can support both teachers and students every day. Nicole was first introduced to Cadence Westmoreland as a prospective parent and was immediately charmed by the warmth and care of the staff — a feeling she looks forward to contributing to as part of the community. Outside of work, Nicole runs a small book club, loves fantasy novels, plays Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop RPGs, and enjoys journaling, painting, crocheting, embroidery, cooking, and attending concerts with her husband.
I started officially working in early childhood education in 2015. From working with 3 year olds, I shifted to teaching students aged 2-10 in South Korea. I then moved back home to Oahu, Hawaii and worked in my hometown in the public school sector as an inclusive Special Education Teacher. When I finally made the decision to move back to Portland, I thankfully found Cadence Academy and am enjoying my adaptive role as an Administrative Assistant. I’m incredibly adamant about “showing up” for my coworkers, students, and families. I have been in many educational positions and have come to realize the great joy in being a consistent safe place for students and families alike. I love that working in early childhood eduction gives me a chance to bring out the inner child within me on a daily basis! There’s no greater satisfaction & joy for me than knowing that through the little moments of their day I can impact the future of our world. In my free time, I’m always exploring new restaurants & food experiences! I enjoy crafting and listening to psychology podcasts! I also think there’s no replacement for listening to great music live.
Every family’s routine is unique — and your childcare should be too. With Cadence Education, our Family of Schools may offer various schedule options designed to fit your life.
Each of our school’s are unique, and may not offer all of the options listed below. Talk with your School Director to learn what options are available for your family at this location.
When schedules change, or the grandparents cancel, or life just gets busy, FlexiPass gives you five prepaid days of care that you can use whenever* you need them, one at a time or all at once. No registration fees. No ongoing tuition. Just dependable care when you need it most.
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