Seating for groupwork

[Sandinmypants]

I’ve always been a ‘desks in a row’ kind of teacher, I like students facing the front and find it easier to keep on top of behaviour. This has usually worked in the kinds of schools I’ve taught at, where behaviour has been a challenge.
However, I am currently teaching at a school where my classroom is long and narrow and badly configured. Putting the desks in a groupwork setting, so having four or six students sat around a table, would make it a LOT easier to get around the classroom during a lesson. I am just worried about the effect on behaviour management. Does anyone successfully use a ‘group work’ style seating plan and can you give me your tips on making it work for behaviour please?

For information I’m in a mixed secondary school with behaviour challenges in most classes.

You have to be careful not to have any chairs facing away from the board, so sideways on at most. Put your most annoying kids facing away from each other so they can’t make eye contact across the room.
Be careful with who you have sat at the same table, but also look at trying not to have chairs backing onto each other.

I bloody hate grouped tables and find it awful for behaviour, but I don’t have my own classroom and so have to put up with whatever arrangement the classroom owners decide upon.