“I Expected to Fail”: How Leona Inman Grew Kidslingo Bolton Central & West
There is a version of business growth we tend to celebrate after the fact. The full diary, the returning customers, the contracts and the confidence that comes from knowing people value what you do. What we see less often is what the beginning actually felt like.
For Leona Inman, owner of Kidslingo Bolton Central & West and a finalist for Business Growth of the Year at The Class Business Awards 2026, the beginning came with a very different belief.
“I expected to fail.”
Four years later, she is teaching languages across nurseries, a primary school and online classes, building the business around her young daughter and helping children develop a love of Spanish and French before they have had time to decide that languages are difficult.
A Career She Thought She Would Never Leave
Languages had been part of Leona’s life since secondary school. She studied French and Spanish through A-level and university, spent a year living and teaching in Madrid, and eventually returned to work at the very secondary school she had attended herself.
She stayed for ten years, progressing into leadership within the languages department, and assumed teaching would always be her career.
That changed after COVID.
The pressure of teaching, including leading a department through online learning and recruitment while also having a baby, eventually took its toll. Leona became seriously unwell and was signed off for six months.
As she prepared to return, her husband challenged whether going back would simply take her straight back to where she had been.
That was when she began looking at other ways to use the skills she already had.
Finding Kidslingo
Leona researched children’s language franchises and connected with Kidslingo founder Anna Neville.
“I just thought this is where I want to be.”
She opened Kidslingo Bolton Central & West on 1 May 2022.
Then, on 4 May, she discovered she was pregnant.
It would have been understandable to decide the timing was impossible, particularly because Leona says she did not see herself as naturally confident. Instead, she kept going, approaching nurseries, building relationships and learning how to run a business at the same time as preparing to have another child.
The early days included plenty of rejection, but they also created the foundations for what came next.
When Visibility Starts Working For You
One of the clearest signs that the business was gaining traction came when a local primary school contacted Leona directly.
Their Spanish teacher had left, and the deputy head had already seen Leona working around Bolton.
“I’ve seen you work around the Bolton area. Would you be able to come in and teach Spanish to us?”
Leona went in for a conversation, explained that she was pregnant and was still offered the opportunity. She started teaching there, took maternity leave and returned afterwards. She is still working with the school today.
That kind of growth is worth paying attention to because it shows what happens when visibility and reputation begin to compound.
Leona’s business has grown through:
- Long-term relationships with nurseries and schools
- Specialist language expertise
- Strong local visibility and reputation
- Consistency after maternity leave
- A mix of nursery, school and online delivery
The work she did early on made it easier for opportunities to begin finding her.
The Children Don’t Think They Are Learning
Leona is particularly passionate about introducing languages early.
Having taught secondary pupils before moving into nurseries and primary schools, she has seen the difference in how younger children approach something unfamiliar.
“They’re more willing to try things that they’re not comfortable with because they don’t really know that they’re uncomfortable with it yet.”
In nursery sessions, Spanish is wrapped up in songs, dancing, parachutes, props and play.
The reaction tells its own story.
“When I walk into the nursery they start cheering.”
The children are learning vocabulary and language patterns without approaching the session as something intimidating or academic. For Leona, that positive early relationship with languages is just as important as the individual words they remember.
She wants children to love languages first.
Growth That Shows Up In Confidence
One of the most rewarding forms of progress is not measured in turnover or bookings at all.
Leona regularly meets children who will not initially look at her, speak to her or take part.
Months later, those same children can be speaking Spanish, joining the songs and rushing to sit beside her.
“The confidence has just rocketed.”
She sees their pride when she revisits vocabulary from previous topics and they realise they still know it.
That impact includes:
- Greater confidence joining group activities
- A willingness to try unfamiliar words
- Pride in remembering previous learning
- Positive associations with language learning
- Strong foundations before secondary education
It is a lovely reminder that growth in a class business happens on more than one level. The business grows, but the people inside it do too.
Building A Business Around Family Life
Leona’s maternity leave lasted three months.
She was desperate to spend time with her baby, but she was equally aware that she had only just begun building trust with nurseries and her primary school.
It was not an easy balance.
Today, her daughter is three and a half, Leona keeps Wednesdays free with her and family support helps make the rest of the working week possible. Her admin and planning often happens once her daughter is in bed.
She is also raising her bilingually in Spanish.
The business she once expected to fail has now become work she genuinely loves, delivered in a way that allows her to use years of specialist expertise while creating a very different life from the one she had in secondary education.
“I don’t think I’ll ever not be part of Kidslingo because I absolutely adore work. And I didn’t think that was possible.”
That might be the most important growth story of all.
Watch the Full Interview
In the full conversation, Leona shares why she left secondary teaching, the reality of launching a business while pregnant, how she built long-term relationships with nurseries and schools and why she believes language learning should begin much earlier.
👉 Watch Leona’s full finalist interview here.
If you are growing a business while also navigating family life, confidence wobbles and all the unpredictability that comes with self-employment, The Class Business Live on Saturday 10 October 2026 is a chance to be around people who understand that reality. We’ll be talking growth, strategy, leadership and the decisions that sit behind the polished success stories.
Then we’ll celebrate how far everyone has come at The Class Business Awards & Afterparty that evening.
Join us at the National Conference Centre in Solihull.
