As above, it's split into three payments and there is no way around that. Additionally the last payment is actually the largest of the three (to help students with costs over the summer is the usually given rationale); the first two are slightly less than the final one, so it's not an even split between each.
However you would probably be eligible for a student overdraft scheme on your student account with your bank, depending who you bank with. Usually they do no interest overdrafts while you are a student, or very long repayment periods (e.g. 3+ months, so your next loan installment would come in) before interest begins being charged on them. This can help manage the initial costs when you start uni, and then remain as a buffer in case of sudden costs that might crop up later in the course.
Just avoid student credit cards unless you have a will of iron and are extremely organised and keep on top of payment dates etc. Credit ratings are very easy to hurt but hard to improve!