One scene stood out in The Unteachables, the recent television series featuring 16 unruly 14-year-olds chosen by their schools to attend a two-week study programme to try to turn around their disruptive behaviour. It was when Grace Hull, a middle-class girl from a close-knit family in Brighton, unleashed a volley of expletives at the teacher trying to discipline her.

What the programme didn't show was Grace's mother, Samantha, explaining that one reason for her teenager's disaffection with secondary school might have been the damage caused to her self-confidence by attending an unsuitable primary school.

"Grace went to a very academic junior school, but she is not academic," says Hull. "She's great at sport and has brilliant social skills. But as she says in the television series, 'When I was in the juniors, I felt I was thick.' She took that to senior school with her."

Arguably, that early experience contributed to Grace's disengagement from school at the age of 13. It has taken all the expert input offered in the television series to help get her back on track.

Parents have traditionally spent far more time, angst and money choosing a good secondary school for their children than a fine primary. But experts increasingly warn that it is critical to get a child's first school right. An environment that doesn't suit a child, in which their gifts are not identified and nurtured, can be disastrous. Children can be switched off learning at a very young age.

In some schools, the problem is different: one child in four leaves his or her state primary school unable to read and write well enough to cope with the demands of a secondary-school curriculum.

Anthony Seldon, the new head of Wellington College and a father of three, says: "There is no doubt that the quality of state primary schools has improved over the past eight years. But there are still appallingly educated children coming through, though in fewer numbers."

Seldon believes primary teaching is critical. "It is the most important time to educate children, when they are young. Developmentally, children's personalities are formed in the first five years of their lives. Likewise, children who are not taught to think by the age of 11, who have not developed curiosity and have not been taught the value of education as something that is going to help them fulfil themselves - it is very difficult to teach them these things later."

So how does one choose a "good" primary school - one that will, as Bill Laar, a former school inspector in Westminster, puts it, "send your child home ablaze with excitement for discovery"? What should a parent look for?

“The right choice at age five could resolve schooling right through to A-level”

A basic checklist, according to Laar, now an education consultant, would include a good and steadily improving position in local and national league tables; a "broad and rich" curriculum, featuring sport, dance, drama, art, music, plenty of educational trips and maybe a foreign language; a low turnover of teachers; a well-looked-after playground with plenty of space and equipment (vital for boys); enough computers and interactive whiteboards to get to grips with technology and - crucially - happy children; plus an inspirational head teacher, who is eager to work closely with parents.

It's also worth checking whether the primary "feeds" a sought-after secondary school - that is, whether its pupils automatically progress to a centre of excellence. If so, then the right choice at age five could resolve schooling right through to A-level.

How can parents ascertain that the items on Laar's checklist are in place and that the school they choose will suit their child? A good starting point is this Parent Power CD-Rom. It includes more than 2,000 of the most academically successful state and independent schools in the UK, many with full profiles that detail the breadth and quality of the curriculum behind the school's outstanding results.

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