Planning a Train Journey: Free Printable Worksheet for Year 5
Planning a Train Journey is a free printable worksheet for Year 5 (ages 9 to 10), in Key Stage 2. Read a timetable and work out times It comes from the Mini Minds Hub, a growing library of free printables from Jaques of London, the British games and toy company that has been making games for families since 1795.
It is two A4 pages. Page 1 is the activity for children. Page 2 is for the grown-up: it has notes on how to use the sheet, help for children who find it hard, a stretch idea, and the answers. Print it at home or in the classroom. Black and white printing works well.
What is on the sheet
This worksheet includes a table to fill in and numbered questions with space to answer.
A look at what children will meet:
- Station
- Arrive
- Leave
- How many minutes from leaving Greenfield to arriving at Riverton?
- How many minutes does the train wait at Hillcross?
Who this is for
Year 5 (ages 9 to 10) in Key Stage 2.
Key Stage 2 covers Years 3 to 6, ages 7 to 11. Children are widening what they know and getting better at explaining their thinking, so activities that ask them to reason, not only recall, are especially useful. Use it at home, in class, on a rainy afternoon or at a family gathering.
What children practise
- Reading timetables
- Time
- Subtracting
Read a 24 hour timetable and find journey and waiting times.
Learning focus and curriculum link
Subject: Maths: Time. Key stage: Key Stage 2. It supports the subject at this level through short, focused practice.
This sheet is a practice and play activity. It supports classroom learning and is not a replacement for it.
How to use it
- Print both pages. Page 1 is for the child. Keep page 2 for the grown-up.
- 1 child, 10 to 15 minutes. Use a number line or a clock face to count on in jumps.
- Work through the activity together the first time. Talk about each choice.
- Check against the notes on page 2 and the answers.
- Come back to it another day. Repeating a familiar activity builds confidence.
If it feels too hard
Use a clock and count on to the next hour, then to the minutes.
To stretch confident children
Work out how long the train takes from Riverton to Seaview, including the wait at Hillcross.
Make it a game
Make up your own timetable with five stops and swap with a friend.
Tips for parents and teachers
- Print on plain A4 paper. Black and white printing works too.
- Work through it together the first time, then let children try alone.
- Praise effort and thinking, not only correct answers.
A screen-free maths: time activity for Year 5
Children spend a lot of time on screens. This is a screen-free maths: time activity that needs only paper and a pencil. It works as quiet time after school, a rainy day activity, a holiday boredom buster or a calm moment before bed. Screen-free learning gives eyes a rest and gets children talking, thinking and writing by hand.
Free maths: time resources for teachers
Teachers can use this worksheet as a starter, a plenary, an early finisher task, a supply teacher resource, a homework task or a table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing. The learning focus and skills are listed above so you can match it to your planning, and page 2 gives support and stretch ideas for mixed ability groups.
Maths: Time ideas for parents at home
You do not need to be a teacher to use this. Read the sheet through, sit with your child for the first go and let them lead. Short bursts of ten to fifteen minutes work better than long sessions. If you are looking for free maths: time worksheets for Year 5, or simple home learning for the weekend or school holidays, this is a good place to start.
Home education and tutoring
Home educators and tutors can print this as part of a wider maths: time plan. It pairs well with books, outdoor play and everyday talk. Because the sheet is free and printable, you can use it again for brothers and sisters or for revision a few weeks later.
Why it helps children learn
Hands-on, paper based activities slow learning down in a good way. Children read carefully, think before they answer and see their own progress on the page. Games and challenges add a reason to keep going. That mix of play and practice is why printable activities like this are popular with parents, teachers and home educators.
Why planning a train journey matters
An adult reads a table of times, works out how long a journey takes and how long they must wait for a connection. Those are the three jobs on this sheet.
The sheet has a table of stations with arrival and departure times, and numbered questions. One asks for the journey time from Greenfield to Riverton. Another asks for the waiting time at Hillcross. The times are in 24-hour form.
The Ofsted research review of mathematics, published on gov.uk, gives a reason to practise the basics first. It says pupils are unlikely to solve an area word problem if they do not realise the question asks for a strategy to find an area. The same idea applies here. Our own view: a child who can spot "this is a finish minus start question" is better placed to start.
What the research says children find hard
We looked for research on exactly where children go wrong with timetables and elapsed time. We did not find a study we could open and check, so we have no figures to give. What we can say comes from the Ofsted mathematics review. It is about maths teaching in England in general. It is not about timetables.
- Language comes first. The review says that in word problems the first barrier to overcome is language, so pupils need to be proficient readers at the required level.
- Surface and deep structure. It says that even when pupils can read and understand the context, they need to look beyond the surface features of the problem towards the deep structure that signals the strategy to be used.
- Facts before problems. It says pupils need to be fluent with the relevant facts and methods before being expected to learn how to apply them to problem-solving conditions.
Our own reading: a train question has a lot of surface detail (station names, times, a story). The sum underneath is usually a subtraction of two times.
What Year 5 children are expected to learn
The national curriculum for England, in its Year 5 mathematics programme of study, says pupils should be taught to "solve problems involving converting between units of time". Its notes say pupils "use all 4 operations in problems involving time and money, including conversions (for example, days to weeks, expressing the answer as weeks and days)".
The Year 5 statistics content says pupils should "complete, read and interpret information in tables, including timetables".
The 24-hour clock comes earlier. In Year 4, pupils should "read, write and convert time between analogue and digital 12- and 24-hour clocks". Year 4 also includes "solve problems involving converting from hours to minutes, minutes to seconds, years to months, weeks to days". The Year 3 notes say pupils become "fluent in and prepared for using digital 24-hour clocks in year 4". Year 3 also asks pupils to "compare durations of events [for example, to calculate the time taken by particular events or tasks]". Our own view: a train journey is one example of a duration.
Why a timetable sheet can help
We did not find a study of a train timetable worksheet or game that we could open and quote, so we will not give you a number. Here is the honest case, built on what the Ofsted mathematics review does say.
- The review says pupils benefit from studying worked examples in addition to practising solving similar types of problems. The adult page of this sheet gives answers you can use as worked examples.
- It says pupils should not be rushed through content, and that a moment of understanding does not guarantee long-term learning. Our own view: a short sheet you can return to fits that.
- It notes that pupils who do well tend to have spent more time on the subject. That is a pattern, not proof that any one sheet works.
The sheet is practice. It is not a lesson, and it does not replace one.
How to get the most out of Planning a Train Journey
Our own advice, not from a study:
- Warm up with the clock. Ask your child to say 15:40 as a 12-hour time before starting.
- Read the table aloud. Point to one row. Ask: when does the train arrive, and when does it leave?
- Draw a number line. Mark the departure time on the left and the arrival time on the right.
- Jump to the next hour. Count the minutes to the next whole hour, then whole hours, then the last minutes.
- Add the jumps. Write the total in hours and minutes.
- Check by adding back. Add the journey time to the departure time. You should land on the arrival time.
- Make a timetable. Ask your child to write five stops of their own and swap with someone else.
Making it easier or harder, our own advice: for an easier start, use only whole-hour and half-hour times, and work in 12-hour time first. For a harder task, add a change of train and ask for the whole trip, from the first departure to the final arrival, including the wait. Ask your child to write the total in minutes and then in hours and minutes.
Common mistakes, and what to say
These come from how the sums work. They are our own suggestions, not research findings.
- Treating minutes like decimals. From 09:45 to 10:15 is 30 minutes. Taking 9.45 from 10.15 as ordinary decimals gives 0.70. Say: "How many minutes are in one hour?"
- Mixing 12-hour and 24-hour times. 15:10 is 3:10 pm, not 5:10. Say: "Take 12 away from the hours."
- Measuring waiting time from the wrong times. Waiting time runs from arrival to the next departure at the same station. Say: "Which two times are on this one row?"
- Losing the hour. From 11:40 to 12:15 is 35 minutes. Say: "Stop at 12:00 first."
- Skipping the check. An answer of 95 minutes is the same as 1 hour 35 minutes. Say: "Write it both ways."
Why teachers matter to us
We are a games company, and we have been making games for families since 1795. A printable does not replace a teacher. A 2011 interim report for the Sutton Trust looked at how much teachers affect pupil achievement. It said that in one year with a very effective maths teacher, pupils gain 40% more learning than with a poorly performing maths teacher. That is a finding about maths teachers, and time and timetables are maths. It also said that for poor pupils the difference between a good and a bad teacher is a whole year's learning.
The report added that paper qualifications and similar details explain less than 8% of teacher quality. A University of Bristol working paper, CMPO 09/212, found considerable variability in teacher effectiveness. We read this as a reason to be thankful to teachers, and to use a sheet like this beside a good lesson.
A caution on the Sutton Trust figures: the report draws on US studies as well as English ones. The 40% compares a very effective teacher (at the 84th percentile) with a poorly performing one (at the 16th percentile). The figure that paper credentials explain less than 8% of teacher quality comes from US research. We use them as pointers, not as a promise about any one child.
Why education matters to us
Our own view: reading a timetable is a useful skill for planning a day out. We want every child to feel able to do that. Jaques of London has made things for children to hold and play with for generations. The Mini Minds Hub carries that on with free, screen-free sheets that a parent can use at a kitchen table beside a teacher's work in the classroom.
Planning a Train Journey: 20 questions and answers
- 1. How do I write 3:40 pm in 24-hour time?
- Add 12 to the hour. It is 15:40.
- 2. What happens to times around noon?
- Noon is 12:00. Add 12 only from 1 pm onwards, so 12:30 pm stays 12:30.
- 3. What is a quick way to find a journey time?
- Our suggestion: count up from the departure time. Go to the next whole hour, then add whole hours, then add the last minutes.
- 4. Can you show a worked example?
- Depart 09:45, arrive 11:20. That is 15 minutes to 10:00, then 1 hour to 11:00, then 20 minutes. 15 + 60 + 20 is 95 minutes, or 1 hour 35 minutes.
- 5. What is the waiting time at a station?
- It is the gap between the train arriving and the next train leaving. Both times sit on the same row of the table.
- 6. Why can I not just subtract the numbers?
- Because an hour has 60 minutes, not 100. Taking 9.45 from 10.15 gives 0.70, but the real gap is 30 minutes.
- 7. Where does the curriculum mention timetables?
- The Year 5 statistics content says pupils should "complete, read and interpret information in tables, including timetables".
- 8. Does Year 5 include changing units of time?
- Yes. The Year 5 programme says pupils should "solve problems involving converting between units of time".
- 9. What if the journey crosses 12:00?
- Our suggestion: treat 12:00 as a stepping stone. From 11:40 to 12:15 is 20 minutes to noon, then 15 more, so 35 minutes.
- 10. How does a number line help?
- Our suggestion: draw jumps along the line and label each one. The child sees the time being built up in small steps.
- 11. What does Ofsted say about word problems?
- Its mathematics review says the first barrier is language, so pupils need to read at the required level. Our suggestion: read the story aloud together.
- 12. What is the sum underneath a journey question?
- The review talks about looking past surface features to the deep structure. In a journey question, our reading is that it is usually finish time minus start time.
- 13. How can my child check an answer?
- Our suggestion: add the journey time back onto the departure time. The result should be the arrival time.
- 14. Can we write our own timetable?
- Yes. The page suggests a five-stop timetable that your child writes and swaps with a friend. Then they answer each other's questions.
- 15. What if my child gets lost in the table?
- Our suggestion: lay a ruler or strip of paper under one row at a time. That hides the other rows.
- 16. How many minutes are in 2 hours 35 minutes?
- Two hours is 120 minutes. Add 35 to get 155 minutes.
- 17. What if my child has not met 24-hour times?
- The curriculum places this in Year 4. Go back to a 12-hour clock face first. Our suggestion: write both forms side by side.
- 18. Can I use a real timetable as well?
- Our suggestion: yes. Pick a real journey you plan to make and ask your child to find the arrival time and any wait.
- 19. How do I say 14:05 out loud?
- You can say "fourteen oh five" or "five past two". Our suggestion: practise saying both.
- 20. Should my child learn facts by heart?
- The Ofsted review says pupils need to be fluent with the relevant facts and methods first. Our suggestion: for this sheet, that includes knowing there are 60 minutes in an hour.
Sources
- Department for Education, National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study: gov.uk.
- Ofsted, Research review series: mathematics (2021): gov.uk.
- Sutton Trust, Improving the impact of teachers on pupil achievement in the UK, interim findings (2011): dera.ioe.ac.uk.
- Slater, Davies and Burgess, University of Bristol CMPO Working Paper 09/212 (2009): bristol.ac.uk.
Frequently asked questions
What age is Planning a Train Journey for?
It is written for Year 5 (ages 9 to 10), in Key Stage 2.
What will children practise?
Read a 24 hour timetable and find journey and waiting times.
How do I use it?
1 child, 10 to 15 minutes. Use a number line or a clock face to count on in jumps.
What if it feels too hard?
Use a clock and count on to the next hour, then to the minutes.
Is it free?
Yes. It is free to print for home and classroom use.
Is Planning a Train Journey suitable for teachers to use in class?
Yes. Teachers can use it as a starter, plenary, early finisher task, homework or table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing.
Is this a screen-free activity?
Yes. It is a screen-free printable that needs only paper and a pencil, so it works well for quiet time, rainy days and school holidays.
Can I use it for home education?
Yes. Home educators and tutors can use it on its own or as part of a wider plan. It is free to print again for brothers, sisters or revision.
How long does it take?
Most children finish page 1 in 10 to 20 minutes. The notes on page 2 suggest ways to make it shorter or longer.
Do I need to print in colour?
No. It prints well in black and white on plain A4 paper.
More free printables
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