First of all let me point out that $D_{24}$ cannot be isomorphic to $S_4$. $S_4$ does not have an element of order 12, where as $D_{24}$ does. This is because $D_{24}$ as a set is
$$\{1,r,r^2 ,\ldots r^{11}, sr, sr^2, \ldots sr^{11}\}$$
where the $r_i's$ are the rotations and the $sr^j$ the reflections; so that $r$ is your element of order 12. For the sake of knowledge though $S_4$ does have a subgroup of order 12 sitting inside it that is just $A_4$. Just to tell you though the subgroups of $S_4$ are (up to isomorphism):
$$\{e\}, \hspace{2mm} C_2, \hspace{2mm} C_3, \hspace{2mm} V_4, \hspace{2mm} C_4, \hspace{2mm} S_3, \hspace{2mm} D_8, \hspace{2mm} A_4, \hspace{2mm} S_4.$$
Actually it is not so hard to see directly that $S_3$ and $D_6$ are isomorphic, just list down the elements explicitly and if they obey exactly the same relations, their Cayley Tables are the same so you have your isomorphism.
By the way I think for your last line you want a surjective homomorphism from $S_4$ to $S_3$ to show that $S_3$ is solvable only if $S_4$ is. The way you do that is like this:
We get a homomorphism $\varphi$ from $S_4$ to $S_3$ by considering the action of $S_4$ on a finite set $Y = \{\Pi_1, \Pi_2, \Pi_3\}$ where $\Pi_1 = \left\{\{1,2\}, \{3,4\}\right\}$, $\Pi_2 = \left\{\{1,3\}, \{2,4\}\right\}$ and $\Pi_3 =\left\{ \{1,4\}, \{2,3\}\right\}$. Each $\Pi_i$ is one way of partitioning a set of 4 elements into two subsets of equal cardinality. $S_4$ acts on a $\Pi_i$ by permuting the numbers in each partition, so for example the cycle $(1234)$ interchanges $\Pi_1$ and $\Pi_3$ while keeping $\Pi_2$ fixed, so that $\varphi( (1234) ) = (13)(2)$.
It is easy to see that $\ker \varphi$ is the Klein four- group $V_4= \{e, (12)(34), (14)(23), (13)(24)\}$ where $e$ denotes the identity in $S_4$. If you go further you should know that by the first isomorphism theorem the quotient group $S_4/V_4$ is isomorphic to the image of $\varphi$.
Now to see the surjectivity of $\varphi$, recall we have the counting formula
$|S_4| = |\ker \varphi||\operatorname{Im} \varphi|$. Therefore the order of the image is $24/4 = 6$. Now recall the image is a subgroup of $S_3$ so if we have a subgroup of order 6 sitting inside $S_3$, it must be the whole of $S_3$.
To answer your question on why $S_4$ is solvable, note that the only normal subgroups in $S_4$ are the trivial group, the Klein 4-group $V_4$, $A_4$ and $S_4$ itself.
So we have a subnormal series
$$\{e\} \triangleleft V_4 \triangleleft A_4 \triangleleft S_4.$$
Now you should know that $V_4/\{e\} \cong V_4$ that is abelian (all groups of order 4 are). You also know that $|A_4/V_4| = 3$ so that $A_4/V_4 \cong C_3$ which is abelian. Finally $|S_4/A_4| = 2$ so that $S_4/A_4 \cong C_2$ that is also abelian. So it remains to check that $A_4$ is normal in $S_4$ and $V_4$ is normal in $A_4$. The former you already know for the index of $A_4$ in $S_4$ is two. For the second I suggest listing out the conjugacy classes of $A_4$ and show that $V_4$ is a union of conjugacy classes. It should not be so hard to compute all the conjugacy classes of $A_4$ since there are only 12 elements. Once you've done all of this, you've proved that $S_4$ is solvable!
I wrote up a general classification for the centers of $D_n$, (the dihedral group of order $2n$, not $n$) just the other week. Perhaps it will be useful to read:
If $n=1,2$, then $D_n$ is of order $2$ or $4$, hence abelian, and $Z(D_n)=D_n$. Suppose $n\geq 3$. We have the presentation
$$
D_n=\langle x,y:x^2=y^n=1,\; xyx=y^{-1}\rangle.
$$
Then $yx=xy^{-1}$ implies the reduction $y^kx=xy^{-k}$. An element is in the center iff it commutes with $x$ and $y$, since $x$ and $y$ generate $D_n$. Let $z=x^iy^j$ be in the center. From $zy=yz$ we see
$$
x^iy^{j+1}=yx^iy^j\implies x^iy=yx^i.
$$
But $i\neq 1$, else we have $xy=yx=xy^{-1}$, so $y^2=1$, a contradiction since $n\geq 3$. So $i=0$, and $z=y^j$. Then from the equation $zx=xz$, we have
$$
y^jx=xy^j=xy^{-j}
$$
which implies $y^{2j}=1$. Thus $j=0$ or $j=n/2$. If $n$ is odd, we must necessarily have $j=0$, and $z=1$. If $n$ is even, either possibility works. But $y^{n/2}$ is indeed in the center as it clearly commutes with $y$, as well as with $x$ since $y^{n/2}x=xy^{-n/2}=x(y^{n/2})^{-1}=xy^{n/2}$. Summarizing, we have, for $n\geq 3$,
$$
Z(D_n)=\begin{cases}
\{1,y^{n/2}\} & \text{if }n\equiv 0\pmod{2},\\
\{1\} & \text{if }n\equiv 1\pmod{2}.
\end{cases}
$$
Best Answer
There's no surjection. Since the image of $h$ is a subgroup, it either has order $6,4,3$ or $2$. But $4\nmid6$.
Now, if the image has order $6$, then $h$ is an isomorphism. But that's out: $A_4$ doesn't have a copy of $S_3$ as a subgroup. In fact it has no subgroup of order six.
So the image has order $3$ or $2$. If the image has order $3$, the kernel has order two. There are $3$ subgroups of order $2$, but they are not normal. So the image can't have order $3$.
If the image has order $2$, the kernel has order $3$. There is one subgroup of order $3$ in $D_6$.
There are $3$ copies of $C_2$ in $A_4$.
Thus we get $4$, when we throw in the trivial one.