Ammaki - Fees differ hugely by state. At my state school, prep has a larger parent contribution (around $100 I think as opposed to $20 for the rest of the school) and then school buys all the supplies. Parents just supply uniforms, hat, shoes, library bag, lunch box etc. After prep, equipment is the carers responsibility - it differs between grade levels from around $50 to $100 to buy. Preps do few excursions, so I can't see it being too expensive.

HTH

I hope you can all come to some kind of arrangement that works for everyone.