Chosing secondary school help!

[alizee21g]

I am new to here so please be gentle, although I've been lurking for years.
DD1 is in year 6 so we need to apply for secondary school for her. We have actually submitted application already but I am constantly doubting myself and still considering changing our choices. A bit of background - I wasn't born jn

Pressed add to quick sorry can't work out how to edit!
I've been meaning to say I wasn't born in the UK and only did university here so secondary education is complete mystery. My English friends explained the gist of it to me but it still makes me anxious thinking I am missing something important. DD1 is bright kid, quirky, nerdy, loves reading and writing, anime, gaming, drawing and all things artsy. We live in mid sized town in the North of England with many deprived areas. Most schools are standard secondaries, all academies apart from one non selective grammar which is too far from us. No 6th form but our college is Ofsted outstanding. The schools we have narrowed it down to are:
School A - new player, only opened last year so just recruited their second intake of y7 of 180. Due to unforseen circumstances building of their permanent site is delayed so they currently use former college building which is adequate. If she goes there she'd spend first few months in this building which is located in town centre just a short bus ride from home. Permanent site is 3 miles away but her dad can take her there on his way to work. This school is STEM school and uses fair banding. Dd sat their assesment and came at band 3 out of 3 with 4 being the top band. We were really pleased with this school after open evening. Head is very enthusiastic and eager to make school the best, friendly, happy to speak to parents and children, approachable. Teachers were lovely too. My worries are with it being new school we don't know anything about quality of teaching, no exam results etc. Although my dd is clever kid on the whole she struggles a bit with maths - her last school report placed her 'as expected' for maths, she's 'greater depth' for pretty much everything else but she did struggle a bit after lockdowns. Is she likely to struggle at STEM school? We actually like that school is smaller at this stage as she's not the most confident and feels intimidated by older kids. Friends son started this school last year and both him and his parents are very happy with it. Communication with school seems brilliant too, I've emailed them twice since open evening and they replied promptly both times.
School B - standard comp of 900 pupils, unimpressive gcse results, located in part of town known as dodgy. Just last week friends son got attacked by 14 year old boy from the same school. Open evening went better than I expected, some teachers were really engaged but head didn't put much effort in his speech and there were spelling mistakes in presentation. Decent enrichment and facilities. Two foreign languages but we will have no choice which one she'd end up learning but language teacher very supportive of dd doing gcse in her 2nd language which is not taught. Overall I won't despair if that's where she ends up but location and type of families we've seen were bit off putting. Especially for DH. Friends son goes there and he's happy which means a lot because he's very sensitive boy who wasn't happy at primary school. Dd would need to travel there on school bus which makes me anxious.
Academically I am.not worried, I think she can learn anywhere I am sure. She wants school B because that's where her friends will go (apart from 1 who put down school A as first preference) and she liked facilities and uniforms. We told her school A will also have amazing facilities and will be located in nicer area. But in the other hand with school A being a but further away from home she might not have any friends locally. She's not kicking off massively against school A and I would never send her somwhere she hates, she was happy enough after open evening. But now I am worried with her being on more artistic side school A won't be the best fit. They told me their clubs each term have always something artsy on offer and students are required to attend one club each term. They assured me once they move to new site they will expand their art and design curriculum. Other academies in the same trust are ofsted outstanding (3 out of 4). I am honestly going round in circles. What else I should be asking both schools to assist our decision? I've emailed school B once and not had any replies (3 weeks ago). Help???

Have you checked the admissions criteria and the past admissions data to see if it is likely that you would be offered a place at either school (if either is oversubscribed)?

New schools can often divide opinion - as you’ve largely summarised they are smaller which is appealing for little Y7s, but are they able to offer breadth later on? New schools will often struggle to put together decent music groups or sports teams, for example.

What happens if DH gets a new job/is elsewhere for the day/unwell? What are the other travel options like? Relying on Dad for lifts might get a bit stifling (for both of them) later on.

Overall it sounds like either option would realistically be fine - sorry, not massively helpful!

Dad may be able to take her on his way to work, but how will she get home from School A? Is she going to have to hang around and wait for him (or go to a friend's house) every day? Thought, to be honest, 3 miles away is walkable or cyclable. (and I'm confused why she'll need to get the bus if School B is even closer)?

TBH it sounds like you have 2 good options to choose from, so you can't go wrong. I'd be tempted to go for closer and DD's preference, and also because I'm not keen on a "still growing" school.

Sorry I wasn't clear she can get to and from both schools on her own. School B is closer but it's still about 40 mins walk and we happen to live close to bus stop. Not sure which is worse, going on the school bus full of teens or walking through dodgy area.
School A journey back would be School bus to.town centre and another short bus ride home (10 mins).
I am pretty sure school B would be our "banker" but I don't know the exact figures, couldn't find them on council's website only general statistics for all schools (how many children got their 1st preference etc).
School A had 160 applications last year for 180 places but 2023 is the first year they do fair banding. As it's a new thing in our are some families were put off by it so I am feeling positive about our chances. They will be doing lottery in case of oversubscription.
I guess because all schools available to us are rather unremarkable I am kind of drawn to this new one?
Thank you both for taking the time to respond.

How many preferences can you list? Do not leave one blank even if you are reasonably confident as if it comes to it you may be allocated a random school which you dislike. List as many schools of your choice as you can, including those you are likely to get a place at.

We can list 3 and we have filled them all up, 3rd one is twice as big school B and distance wise close to school A permanent site.