MP - you have my sympathy re your abysmal lack of aircon. We lived without it for many years, awful awful awful. You could nearly cope if it ever got cool enough to sleep! Anyway I put my foot down when we moved back & now I have the ultimate must-have-aircon reason ever: lymphoedema. LOL. Silver linings, I guess.

TBH I don't understand why our materials aren't included in the school fees - only reason I can imagine is that maybe some families don't pay all their fees & that structure would leave the school out of pocket?? DD1's school bungs on a $750/year "resources" fee which is clearly set at that amount to scoop up the school kids bonus direct from the parents' tax return ... But then we STILL have to buy all their stationery !!! Unreal.