It is in Year 4 that children are usually introduced to the 24-hour clock. They will have already covered a.m. and p.m. in Year 3 and they need to recognise that to convert times from 1 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. they add 12 hours to the time. It is also important to emphasise that 24-hour clock times always have 4 digits so if the hour is a single digit then a zero is placed at the start. For example, 8.45 a.m. is shown as 08:45.

Our latest pages look at both converting time to the 24-hour clock and converting time from the 24-hour clock.

Some children will find this very straightforward, especially if they use the 24-hour clock on their phones etc.