The aim of the school is to provide "Quality Education for All" through: educational opportunities and experiences to enable every student to develop his/her capacities to full potential; continuous training and development for all staff to ensure quality teaching; and quality information to parents and the opportunity to participate in and contribute to decision-making.

The large enrolment of over 1300 students, the quality and adaptability of teaching staff and the high level of support and interest of parents, enables the school to provide an extensive and diverse curriculum. The outstanding achievements of individual students and student teams at all levels, academically, in the arts, in sport and areas such as interschool debating and mock trial competitions further reflects the diverse nature of the broader school curriculum. Warners Bay High School possesses many of the characteristics of a high achieving comprehensive secondary school.

The Higher School Certificate course is divided into two parts:

1. Preliminary (studied in Year 11, Terms 1, 2 and 3)

2. HSC (studied in year 11, term 4 and Year 12 Terms 1, 2 and 3)

The HSC requires that a standard referenced approach be used for assessing and reporting student achievement. Assessment tasks allow measurements of student performance in relation to course outcomes, including those not readily measured by an examination. This serves to provide several types of measurement over a period of time. In a standard-referenced approach, the final assessment mark reflects the rank order and relative difference between the achievements of students, based on the extent to which students have demonstrated the achievement of the outcomes.

The Board of Studies requires all students sitting for the HSC to complete assessment tasks set by the school in both the Preliminary and HSC course.

Preliminary assessment tasks contribute towards the Preliminary Certificate awarded at the end of the course