to update, we finally got to the sewing machine shop yesterday (after 2 weeks of isolation with Covid) and tried the Brother A50 next to the Janome DC360
I actually felt the Brother had better ergonomics and was slightly easier to use, with the auto threader and all the error warnings (it wont let you do something silly like sew with the foot up) and the stitch selector dial
But my daughter felt the stitch qualiies of the Janome were nicer, even though it will let you do things wrong (ie it doesnt sense the correct foot is fitted etc) so she got that one . . .
thanks to everyone for helping us with the decision, now we just need to crack on and use it