THERE was nothing but back to school blues when some pupils were turned away from Meredale Primary School in Johannesburg yesterday.

Parents of the pupils, most of whom are meant to be in grade 1, were fuming when they were turned away .

The group of more than 20 parents were told there was no space for their children and that they should take the matter up with the district.

One parent said she applied for her daughter to attend grade 1 at the school in July last year, only for her to be rejected and put on a waiting list.

She went to the district with a letter from the school and was told that she should take her daughter to that school this year.

The mother said she got a call from the district when schools closed in December, telling her to go to Meredale Primary when schools reopened with her daughter because there was space for her child there.

"I'm angry because I have already bought school uniform for my daughter and now I'm being told she can't attend," she said.

Other parents whose children were being turned away at the gate on their first day of school suffered the same fate, with the school and the district giving them contradictory information.

Parents wanted to know why pupils from surrounding areas were being accepted at the school, while those who lived nearby were not.

Gauteng education department spokesman Charles Phahlane urged parents to be patient.

"We were told that there was space at the school, that's why the district sent pupils there," he said.

Phalane said a school would be found for the pupils but might not be the onethey were assigned to before.