All I did was give the name of the topic we studied each half-term and put it into a grid so students could easily see what their year held. Pupils like being able to see is next and also enjoy seeing what other students are learning about. Looking at the wall, they would reminisce about topics from previous years and look forward excitedly to future topics.
As you might notice, I didn't actually have a noticeboard on the wall so I stapled up some material bought at a market instead. This had the added advantage of being unrippable and my pupils (generally) refrained from writing on it too. At the end of the year you can wash the material then stick it back up re-refreshed in September.
