What Should a Child Know in Year 4 Maths?
Year 4 is an important milestone in the UK primary curriculum. Children aged 8–9 are consolidating what they've learned in KS1, tackling more complex arithmetic, and building the foundations they'll need for the KS2 SATs in Years 5 and 6.
So what exactly should your child be learning in Year 4 maths — and how can you support them at home?
Multiplication Tables
One of the biggest goals in Year 4 is mastering multiplication tables up to 12 × 12. In fact, the government's Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) takes place in Year 4, so fluency is essential.
Children should be able to:
- Recall multiplication facts quickly and accurately
- Solve multiplication problems in context (word problems)
- Use multiplication to solve related division facts
Regular short practice — even 5 minutes of times table drilling each day — builds the speed and confidence that makes everything else easier.
Place Value
In Year 4, children work with numbers up to 10,000. Understanding place value — the idea that the position of a digit determines its value — is fundamental to everything else in maths.
Children should confidently recognise:
- Thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones
- Negative numbers (in temperature and real-world contexts)
- Roman numerals up to C (100)
A child who truly understands place value will find column addition, subtraction, rounding, and comparing numbers much more intuitive.
Fractions and Decimals
Fractions become significantly more demanding in Year 4. Children move beyond recognising simple fractions to working with them:
- Recognising and finding equivalent fractions (e.g. ½ = 2/4 = 4/8)
- Adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator
- Understanding tenths and hundredths as decimals
- Rounding decimals to the nearest whole number
Fractions are notoriously tricky, but consistent practice with varied question styles — particularly word problems — builds lasting understanding.
Measurement
Year 4 pupils also develop their measurement skills, which link maths to the real world. They should be able to:
- Convert between units of length (mm, cm, m, km)
- Solve problems involving mass (g and kg) and volume (ml and l)
- Calculate area and perimeter of rectangles
- Read and interpret 12-hour and 24-hour clocks
The best support you can give is regular, low-pressure practice. Short daily sessions with varied questions — mixing topics your child finds easy with the ones they find hard — builds both fluency and confidence. Praise effort over results, and celebrate small wins.