There is a particular feeling to the first day of college.

It begins outside the doors, with groups of students arriving a little earlier than they probably will later in the term. Some come with friends, others make the journey alone. There are phones being checked, timetables being consulted, last-minute questions and that unmistakable mixture of excitement and apprehension that comes with starting somewhere new.

On Monday 7 September, that first-day atmosphere filled both Lambeth College at Clapham Common and London South Bank Technical College at Nine Elms as students arrived for the beginning of the 2026/27 academic year.

For new students, it was the first glimpse of a place that will become very familiar over the months ahead. For returning students, it was another new beginning: new courses, new challenges, new classmates and another step towards their future.

From early in the morning, queues formed as students made their way into the campuses and began finding their bearings. The buildings were buzzing with conversations as hundreds of individual journeys all started at once.

Across both campuses, teachers, support teams, managers and Principals were out in force to welcome students, answer questions and point everyone in the right direction.

“Which classroom am I in?”

“Where do I need to go?”

“Is this the right floor?”

On the first morning, these can feel like extremely important questions.

Fortunately, there were plenty of friendly faces on hand to provide the answers.

Staff greeted students at entrances, checked timetables, helped them navigate the campuses and directed them towards their first lessons. Behind every timetable and classroom number was a simple goal: making sure each student felt that they had arrived in the right place.

And then, gradually, the queues began to disappear.

Students who had arrived looking understandably nervous started heading into classrooms, workshops, laboratories and learning spaces. New classmates introduced themselves. Teachers began outlining the year ahead. Bags were put down, notebooks and laptops came out, and what had been “the first day of college” began turning into an ordinary college day.

That is one of the lovely things about the start of a new academic year. A building full of strangers very quickly begins becoming a community.

At Lambeth College's Clapham Campus, students arrived to begin courses across a huge range of subjects, joining a diverse college community from across South London and beyond.

At the Nine Elms Campus of London South Bank Technical College, another wave of students began their journey into technical and STEAM education, starting courses designed to build the knowledge and practical skills needed for further study, university, apprenticeships and future careers.

For some students, Monday marked their first major step after leaving school. Others were returning to education or moving up to the next level of their course. Some already knew exactly where they wanted their studies to take them. Others are still discovering that.

Both are perfectly good places to start.

The first day is not really about having everything figured out. It is about turning up, walking through the doors and beginning.

By lunchtime, some of those early-morning nerves had already started to fade. Routes around campus were becoming familiar. Names were being remembered. Conversations were starting. The first pieces of college life were quietly clicking into place.

There will be plenty packed into the months ahead: projects, assignments, practical work, trips, deadlines, friendships, opportunities and probably a few mornings when getting out of bed feels considerably harder than it did on day one.

But every academic year has to begin somewhere.

For the students arriving at Clapham Common and Nine Elms this September, it began with a queue, a timetable, a few butterflies and a warm welcome.

Welcome to the 2026/27 academic year.

The adventure has officially begun.