What is an IP Address and how does it work?
There were 460 Million reachable IP addresses in 2012
Our IP address:
This is a Version 4 IP address. It uniquely identifies our network on the global internet. The address is made up of four blocks of digits. Each digit is between 0 and 255.
The first digit, in our case - 31, is the block address. These are allocated by a worldwide central authority, (IANA). The way in which these numbers have been assigned over time has led to a patchwork, see the diagram below. |
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In our case the first part of the address, 31, indicates a block of addresses that have been allocated to the European Naming Authority, RIPE
Our ISP appears to be a company called Synetrix Holdings which is a division of a larger company called Capita IT Services.
They will have applied to RIPE for an IP address or adress range for the school when the school took out a contract with them for Internet services. 
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