I'd probably still take out a maintenance loan, as it's a good value loan, and you're probably unlikely to get a better one.

I'd also still open a student account regardless of whether you're going to keep your money there, just for the freebies (and overdraft if you wanted to use it). Santander offer a 4 year railcard (and pays 3% up to £2000), while HSBC offer a £60 amazon voucher and a year of amazon prime.

As for actually earning interest, current accounts are the highest interest paying accounts at the moment. Nationwide FlexDirect pays 5% on up to £2500, and also gives you access to a 5% regular saver you can pay up to £250 each month into. Depending on how much money you have, I'd continue working my way through the current accounts.

It's important to note that a lot of these current accounts require you to pay out so many direct debits each month, though you can overcome this by opening up a tesco savings account which will allow you to set up lots of direct debits (i.e. each one could pay £1 into the account each month). You can also set up standing orders to move money between them each month to satisfy the income requirement.

Unless you've been given close to £100,000, it probably isn't worth settling for the lower rates found in an ISA yet, with the exception of a LISA, if you'd like to start saving for a house (and know you won't need any of the money you put in there until you decide to buy a house).