Year 4 is the year the maths gets noticeably more grown-up — and the year a lot of children quietly start to wobble. Here is a parent’s map of what your child actually covers.
The headline is multiplication. By the end of Year 4 children are expected to know all their times tables up to 12 × 12 fluently, and there is a national check to prove it. Fluency here is not optional polish — it is the foundation that makes fractions, division and word problems feel manageable rather than overwhelming.
Alongside tables, expect formal written methods for addition and subtraction, an introduction to decimals and their link to fractions, and more reasoning: explaining why an answer is right, not just getting to it. The common wobble is fractions — if that is where your child slows down, you are in very normal company.