Year 4 maths: what your child learns and how to help

What do Year 4 children learn in maths?

This is everything in the national curriculum for England for Year 4, in plain words. Schools choose the order and the pace, so your child won't meet these in the order below.

Number and place value

• Count in 6s, 7s, 9s, 25s and 1,000s.
• Find 1,000 more or less than a number.
• Count backwards past 0 into negative numbers.
• Know what each digit in a four-digit number is worth: thousands, hundreds, tens and ones.
• Order and compare numbers bigger than 1,000.
• Round any number to the nearest 10, 100 or 1,000.
• Read Roman numerals up to 100 (I to C).

Addition and subtraction

• Add and subtract numbers with up to 4 digits using column addition and column subtraction.
• Estimate answers, and use the inverse to check them: check a subtraction by adding.
• Solve two-step problems, choosing which operations to use and why.

Multiplication and division

• Know all the multiplication and division facts up to 12 × 12.
• Multiply and divide in their head using place value and facts they know, including multiplying by 0 and 1, dividing by 1, and multiplying three numbers together.
• Use factor pairs and the turnaround (7 × 4 is the same as 4 × 7) to make mental calculations easier.
• Multiply two-digit and three-digit numbers by a one-digit number using the written column method.
• Solve problems that involve multiplying and adding, including problems about scaling, like "3 times as long".

Fractions and decimals

• Use diagrams to show families of equivalent fractions, like a half, two quarters and four eighths.
• Count up and down in hundredths, and know that hundredths come from dividing something into 100 equal parts.
• Find fractions of amounts, including fractions like three fifths, where the answer is a whole number.
• Add and subtract fractions with the same denominator.
• Write any number of tenths or hundredths as a decimal, and know that a quarter is 0.25, a half is 0.5 and three quarters is 0.75.
• Divide one-digit and two-digit numbers by 10 and 100, and say what each digit in the answer is worth: ones, tenths and hundredths.
• Round decimals with one decimal place to the nearest whole number.
• Compare numbers with up to 2 decimal places.
• Solve measure and money problems with fractions and decimals.

Measurement

• Convert between units, like kilometres and metres, or hours and minutes.
• Measure and work out the perimeter of shapes made from straight lines, including squares, in centimetres and metres.
• Find the area of a shape by counting squares.
• Estimate, compare and work out measures, including money in pounds and pence.
• Read, write and convert times on analogue and digital clocks, including the 24-hour clock.
• Convert hours to minutes, minutes to seconds, years to months and weeks to days.

Geometry: shapes

• Compare and sort shapes, including quadrilaterals and triangles, by their properties and sizes.
• Spot acute and obtuse angles, and put angles up to two right angles in order of size.
• Find lines of symmetry in 2-D shapes, whichever way round they are.
• Complete a symmetrical shape along a given line of symmetry.

Geometry: position and direction

• Describe positions on a grid as coordinates.
• Describe a move left, right, up or down as a translation.
• Plot points and join them to complete a shape.

Statistics

• Read and draw bar charts and time graphs, for data you count and data you measure.
• Answer questions that compare, add or find the difference using bar charts, pictograms, tables and other graphs.

The multiplication tables check in June

In June of Year 4, every child in England takes the multiplication tables check. In 2027, schools run it in the two weeks starting on Monday 7 June. It's 25 questions on a computer or tablet, with 6 seconds for each, and it takes about 5 minutes. There's no pass mark, and your child's teacher will tell you their score.

You can try it at home with our free tables check practice, which works like the real thing. The 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 times tables are the ones Year 4 adds. Each has its own page with the facts and a practice round: the 6s, 7s, 9s, 11s and 12s.

What should a Year 4 child know by the summer?

The curriculum describes what children are taught across the year, and every child moves through it at their own pace. The ideas that the rest of primary maths builds on most are:

• the times tables up to 12 × 12, with the division facts that go with them
• what each digit in a four-digit number is worth
• column addition and subtraction with four-digit numbers
• multiplying by a one-digit number with the column method
• tenths and hundredths as fractions and as decimals

If some of the times tables still need work in the summer, government guidance for teachers says the facts up to 9 × 9 matter most, because they're the ones used in written multiplication and division in Year 5.

Are there Year 4 maths tests?

The multiplication tables check is the only national test in Year 4. Many schools also use their own tests during the year to see what to teach next, and your child's teacher can tell you how these are used. The next national maths tests are the SATs, in May of Year 6.

Maths words for Year 4

Product

The answer when you multiply. The product of 6 and 4 is 24.

Multiple

A number in a times table. 24 is a multiple of 6.

Factor and factor pair

Factors are numbers that multiply together to make another number. 3 and 4 are a factor pair of 12.

Inverse

The operation that undoes another. Adding undoes subtracting, so you can check a subtraction by adding.

Column addition and subtraction

The written methods where the numbers are lined up by place value, ones under ones and tens under tens.

Tenth and hundredth

One part when something is split into 10 or 100 equal parts. 0.1 is one tenth and 0.01 is one hundredth.

Equivalent fractions

Fractions that are worth the same, like a half and two quarters.

Numerator and denominator

The top and bottom numbers of a fraction. The denominator says how many equal parts the whole is split into.

Negative number

A number less than zero, like −3.

Roman numerals

Numbers written with letters: I is 1, V is 5, X is 10, L is 50 and C is 100.

Perimeter

The distance all the way around the edge of a shape.

Area

The amount of space inside a shape, measured in squares.

Acute and obtuse angles

An acute angle is smaller than a right angle. An obtuse angle is bigger than a right angle but smaller than two right angles.

Quadrilateral

A flat shape with 4 straight sides, like a square, rectangle or kite.

Line of symmetry

A mirror line: fold the shape along it and the two halves match.

Coordinates

A pair of numbers that give a position on a grid: how far across, then how far up.

Translation

Sliding a shape to a new position without turning or flipping it.

Year 4 maths questions to try

These are our own practice questions for Year 4, not a test from school, so there's no score to worry about. Try a few together, then open the answers to check.

1. 7 × 8
2. Round 3,456 to the nearest 100.
3. 2,503 − 1,276
4. What is three quarters as a decimal?
5. A rectangle is 6 cm long and 4 cm wide. What is its perimeter?
6. What number is XIV?

Answers

1. 56
2. 3,500
3. 1,227
4. 0.75
5. 20 cm
6. 14

How to help with Year 4 maths at home

• Times tables, little and often. A few minutes most days does more than a long session at the weekend. Our guide on how to learn times tables has a 10 minute routine.
• Ask how they worked it out. Explaining a method out loud helps it stick, and shows you which method your child's school uses. It's worth sticking to that method rather than teaching a different one.
• Use everyday numbers. Prices, house numbers and distances on road signs are good for place value and rounding.
• Tell the time together. Read analogue clocks, and use the 24-hour times on bus and train timetables.
• Let them handle money. Working out the change in a shop uses subtraction, decimals and pounds and pence all at once.
• Measure things. Cooking, measuring a room for its perimeter, or timing a journey all count as maths.