I spent seven years at the school and have fond memories of my time there. I clearly remember specific life skills as well as academic skills that I still call on today. I learnt how to interact with other people and how to be personally responsible. I continue my education these days by researching papers, ideas, trends and ways of working. 

Immediately after leaving Sixth Form I spent two years as a missionary for my church in California and went into sales roles on my return. After three sales roles I was promoted to run one of the business units and in 2002 moved to New Zealand to be a General Manager of a training company. I found my passion was in helping people provide a great customer experience. The company was sold 18 months later and I started my own business, training corporate companies on customer service, sales and leadership skills. In 2013 my business partner and I started a video training company with a subscription service like Netflix. It is now used in nine countries (www.learningplanet.tv). We sold the other training business in 2015 to concentrate solely on LearningPlanet.

I had boyhood dreams of being a pilot and even went to the British Airways cadet scheme trials and took flying lessons for a while. It was hard to determine what career I wanted but over time, I recognised my top motivators were: Flexibility and freedom, spending time with my family and acting. I now get to do them all. I have starred in films, TV programs and spoken at conferences and been a conference MC several times. I travel if I want to but work in a custom built office next to my home to provide me the flexibility I crave.

I am married with four children and three grandchildren. My oldest child, Ashleigh was a top fashion model for several years – look her up (Ashleigh Good). Moving to New Zealand has been great for our family and opportunities. I still consider myself British and when I visit home, I try to drive past my old school where I find the memories come flooding back. Life has been good and school prepared me for it not just academically but by teachers who also taught life lessons along the way.

Derek Good
23 April 2021

Books by Derek Good
Acting and presenting profile