What Should My Child Know by the End of Year 4?

Year 4 contains the Multiplication Tables Check — the one statutory national assessment between Year 1's phonics check and Year 6's SATs — alongside broader expectations across the full curriculum.

Maths — and the MTC specifically

All times tables up to 12 x 12 should be confidently known by June, when every Year 4 child in England sits the statutory online Multiplication Tables Check — 25 random-order questions, 6 seconds each, taken individually on a school computer. Beyond the MTC, Year 4 also covers negative numbers, decimals to two places, and area of simple rectangles.

Reading

Reading a broad range of increasingly complex fiction and non-fiction, making inferences based on evidence in the text (not just stated facts), and discussing authors' word choices and their effect on the reader.

Writing

Sustained, well-structured writing across different genres, consistent use of paragraphs, a growing range of sentence structures including fronted adverbials, and accurate use of the Year 3/4 statutory spelling list.

Preparing specifically for the MTC

The check tests instant recall under mild time pressure, not just eventual correct answers — which means random-order, mixed-table practice matters far more than reciting tables in sequence. Starting focused MTC-style practice in the autumn term, rather than cramming in May, produces genuinely better results with far less last-minute stress.

What the MTC result actually means

Results aren't published or used for setting/streaming in most schools — it's primarily a national data-gathering tool and a checkpoint for teachers to identify children needing extra times tables support, not a high-stakes exam in the way SATs can feel.

Supporting Year 4 at home

Daily, short, random-order times tables practice remains the single highest-value thing to do this year — five minutes consistently, all the way to June, builds far more reliable recall than any last-minute intensive revision push.