Will start by saying I went to a few schools in northern NSW in my youth, in the days before air con was ‘a thing’. They all had ceiling fans though. We survived and when it hit 40degC they would send kids home. Spent high school in Sydney, no heating, no cooling.
My kids have been through school in Sydney. They had air con. Know why? P&C. The P&C pays for air con and negotiates with the school as yo whether this will also involve a commitment to chip in increased electricity costs each year in the future.
So, join the P&C if you are not already a member. It’s difficult, I’ll grant you, hubby and I needed to rearrange work schedules so one of us could attend and one stay home with the younger non-school sibling when our first started but it’s what you do. See if the P&C consider it a priority and if so then work to fund it.
Our P&C funded air con, smart boards (including replacement bulbs which ran into the thousands each year), additional teachers to increase class numbers and decrease class size, an outdoor covered area so kids could line up and have assemblies without sunstroke etc.
Put out the call for any parents who have the skills necessary to write grant applications and if none but someone savvy is willing get the P&C to fund them to go to a course - you get that initial investment back 10-fold within the first two years. We received heaps of funds through grant applications alone but you need someone to seek out who offers them (not widely advertised) and put in quality applications.
Our primary had 400 students and the P&C used to ‘gift’ approx 150K to the school each year. That was a school with most families with two working parents, extremely limited time but who made this stuff a priority.