Pi-top CEED - What works best?

Hi all,
I will be firing up my pi-top CEEDs with my students soon, and I wonder what the best setup would be. I had a lot of trouble last year…

We will be building basic circuits, using the Pi Camera, Sense Hat, and hopefully Sonic Pi (and Minecraft if possible). The CEEDS have pi3B.

Which OS should I use? Should I go with the latest Raspbian? Should I stick with the pi-top OS? I had a ton of trouble with Thonny last year and would like to avoid that this year.

Please advise…