Take off and go direct on a MAP procedure! This way before TKOF you will know what your hold entry is!
In real world you will not always know before you TKOF what your hold entry will be, and that is a part of the training, to be able to solve this in flight, while working on the radio, situational awareness etc.
Some flights will be doing approaches only, others will be doing routes combined with approaches, on the route you will have to fly from A to B anyway.
Try doing a route to Cambridge, and get stuck for 30 minutes in the hold, waiting for your approach, this is not something anyone can pre-plan!
Generally Southend traffic is not that bad, but just shooting of after TKOF into MAP I would say does not give you a realistic flight sequence for preparing an approach, ATIS, checks etc.
The whole point is to get realistic experience in real flight environment.
When flying direct Southend from Stapleford, they will re-position you, so that you need to work out your hold entry in flight, maybe not a major thing, but it is all part of good training.
On the way back to Stapleford, you do airwork, single engine visual approach, which is also part of your training!