YogaBugs, which provides yoga classes for children, is about to launch a national franchise management scheme.

The company, which turned down investment offers from BBC 2’s Dragon’s Den in 2006, to seek financing from elsewhere – and now boasts more than 1,200 trained teachers, aims to sign up to franchises in the next 18 months.

Around 40,000 children now benefit from weekly YogaBugs classes held in the community, at school or through other government-led initiatives to get children more active and reduce rising levels of obesity.

Some Schools Sports Partnerships now have lottery funding to bring YogaBugs into state schools, and the company has been in talks with the Department of Health to help make yoga available to all children.

YogaBugs’ managing director, Lara Goodbody, said: “We have simply not been able to keep up with demand for the classes.

“Our most recent teachers’ forum survey revealed that many of our teachers are proactive with busy teaching schedules and are frequently turning away work.

“However, the vast majority of teachers felt they would benefit from regional support. The franchisees will marry the two together by managing workloads to meet individual requirements and actively seeking out more classes for those who need them.”