This article aims to set out considerations resulting from international collaboration between educational thinkers in Norway and Wales concerning the proposed Foundation Phase in Wales and the Norwegian Framework Plan for Day Care Institutions, which cater for the same age of child. The essential feature of the Welsh proposal is the aim to place "well-being" at the heart of educational work with children between the ages of three and seven. There needs to be an explicit consideration of the view of the child within policy and practice in order for the Foundation Phase to be successfully implemented. Welsh policy-makers and practitioners need to openly adopt a sociocultural view of the child in order to place well-being at the centre of the Foundation Phase at the level of the classroom, particularly at Key Stage 1. Well-being is considered in the light of Norwegian approaches. Practice in Norway and the findings from the recent EPPE project in Britain are used as a source of guidance for Welsh practitioners.