How does school work in Australia, and how do the holidays correlate with the seasons?

I'm writing a story about this Australian girl who's going to America for an exchange student program thing, and she'll be signing up right before school ends and leaving for America after the break that happens after school ends (in Australia) and I need to know if that's winter break for them or if it's summer break. How it works in America is school starts in September and that is in autumn and when winter break rolls around it's in December. Spring break in April, and Summer break from the middle of June to early September, where school starts up again. How do the seasons and months and holidays work in in Australia, because I need to figure out if when school ends my character should be bundling up or dressing down, and what month/season school ends in. It would really help if somebody who knows a lot about this, or somebody actually from Australia, could answer this because I don't want my story to be wildly incorrect, that would be embarrassing.
Answer:

There are four school terms in Australia with the long break commencing immediately before Christmas (sometimes only a few days before, but mostly a week) and continuing to the end of January. And January is mid-summer in Oz. If you have any questions ask them in the comments box and I'll see what I can tell you. The school calendar varies a little from state to state but they're pretty similar with regard to that summer break. Where does your character live?

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