This paper explores the value of writing journals for both students and teachers beyond English lessons and without insistence on evidencing writing progress. Keeping a journal or undertaking regular reflective writing is an unfamiliar experience for some students, and schools may offer limited privacy for writing. Used in a comprehensive school as part of a trip to Uganda, the journals provide space for reflection and remembering, enable the emotional and cognitive dimensions of the experience to be captured, and initiate students and teachers into a shared community of practice that celebrates writing as one way of processing individual academic and personal development.