How much does the school cost for you guys? Over here it's about $1700 and 20 hours theory + about 30 hours driving.
no real "driving schools" here in aus, or at least nothing mandatory.
you can go to an instructor whos job basically is to teach you the test route, they charge around $50 a lesson (you usually go for 10 x 1 hour lessons, with each hour counting as 3 logged hours, so 30 hours driving)