Leaving Teaching to Build a Language Business: Leona’s Kidslingo Journey

What happens when the career you thought you would have forever is no longer working for you? In this episode of The Class Business Podcast, Krissy Monaghan speaks to Leona, owner of Kidslingo Bolton Central & West and a finalist for Business Growth of the Year at The Class Business Awards 2026. Leona spent ten years teaching languages in the same secondary school she had attended herself, eventually working as second in department and stepping into a Head of Department role. But after the pressures of teaching, particularly through and after COVID, seriously affected her wellbeing, she knew something had to change. She launched her Kidslingo franchise in May 2022. Just three days later, she discovered she was pregnant. Four years on, Leona now teaches Spanish and French across nurseries, a primary school and online family classes, and has built a business around the part of language teaching she always loved most: helping children discover languages while they are still young enough to approach them with confidence and curiosity. In this episode, we talk about: • Leona’s lifelong love of French and Spanish • Returning to teach at her own secondary school • Living and teaching in Madrid • Why younger children often find languages easier to embrace • Leaving secondary teaching after becoming seriously unwell • Why Kidslingo felt like the right franchise for her • Launching a business while expecting to fail • Discovering she was pregnant three days after opening • Building trust with nurseries during the earliest stage of the business • Being approached directly by a primary school to teach Spanish • Taking only three months of maternity leave while growing the business • Building work around her daughter and family life • Raising her own daughter bilingually • Why children cheer when Leona arrives at nursery • Learning through songs, movement, props and play • Watching shy children grow into confident Spanish speakers • Why specialist language teaching matters in primary schools • The importance of starting languages young • Building a business she now says she never wants to leave One of the most powerful parts of Leona’s story is how far she has come from expecting the business to fail. Today, schools approach her because they have seen her work locally, nurseries continue to trust her with their children, and she gets to watch children who once would not even say their name become the ones desperate to sit beside her and speak Spanish. 👉 Find out more about Kidslingo Bolton Central & West: https://www.kidslingo.co.uk/area/span... Leona is a finalist for Business Growth of the Year at The Class Business Awards 2026. Join us on Saturday 10 October 2026 at the National Conference Centre in Solihull for The Class Business Live, followed by The Class Business Awards & Afterparty. https://www.kristinemonaghan.online/o... #TheClassBusinessPodcast #TheClassBusinessAwards