There was more debating than usual at Mill Hill and Golders Green United synagogues, but it was school children who debated issues of concern.

Hosted by Tribe, the inter-school debating competition allowed pupils of Hasmonean, Moriah, Sinai, Simon Marks and Wolfson Hillel to voice their opinions. The format posed the teams against each other in 15-minute parliamentary style debates. Teams were ranked according to criteria such as content, vocal presentation and response.

In the final debate, the teams were given 10 minutes to prepare the motion: "This house believes mobile phones should be banned for primary school children inside schools and out".

Year 6 pupil, Oliver Gotkine, part of the victorious Wolfson Hillel team at Mill Hill shul said: "I really enjoyed the debate and especially the final question about mobile phones where we successfully managed to defend the importance of owning a mobile phone."

In a hotly contested debate at Golders Green Synagogue, Hasmonean Primary were the winners.